


Daemon Ex Machina

by A_I_H



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: A mysterious case, A real murder investigation, Case Fic, Demonic possessions, Devellish sex, F/M, Grieving Lucifer, Lucifer being his obnoxious self, Where did the body go?, Wing sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:42:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27883190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_I_H/pseuds/A_I_H
Summary: This fic is set between Season 4 and 5. Let's pretend that Dromos did accept Lucifer's offer to rule hell for some time and left Baby Charlie alone. Let us also pretend that Eve accepted that she had to let Lucifer go and she left Los Angeles. So, our friends are back to solving crimes as they always had been.They investigate another murder in Los Angeles. But this time, things take unexpected, supernatural turns for both Chloe and Lucifer...
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar/Original Character(s)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 42





	1. Prologue

On the eighth day, God saw that in between Earth and Heaven, there was no space for errant souls – so He created Hell. Unless God could find it in Himself to forgive sinners, they would find a home in Hell. Permanently.  


Very conveniently, just about that time, one of His sons, Lucifer, led a rebellion against Him. Therefore God did not hesitate, expelled said son from the Silver City, and banned him to Hell. Forever.

For no-one could defy Him, the Creator. The universe and everything in it was His creation and thence His will was inescapable. Always.

Until recently. When said rebel son decided to escape Hell and take a recreational time-off on Earth. Vacating the hellish throne and his subordinate demons for an unspecific amount of time was bound to cause mayhem in Hell and discontent in Heaven. God dealt with this new rebellion by sending cryptic threat messages through various messengers. The demons were a lot more patient with their king reclaiming the throne – after all, who was to stop them now from reinstalling entertaining pastimes such as possessing the newly deceased?


	2. Chapter 1

“Detective!” Heralding his presence to the collective investigative staff of the LAPD homicide division with a cheery wave of the hand, Lucifer marched onto the scene of crime. Carelessly, he lifted the warning tape that was supposed to hold intruders off at the door.

“Ms. Lopez,” he greeted the forensic scientist, who was currently trying out different positions and angles to determine, from where the victim could have been shot.

“ _Mr_. _Morningstar_.” Ella greeted him back in her ever charming and engaging way.

Sauntering over to Chloe and Dan, who had been in conversation until now, Lucifer chirped: “So, this looks like a date gone wrong! Who’s our striking but struck fellow?” He looked at the victim, a black man in his early forties, handsome face, attractive body, and wearing a neat, elegant outfit. Had the light blue shirt and white waistcoat not been drenched in deep red blood, Lucifer might have been tempted to peek at the tailor’s label. The man’s body sat on a couch, upper body and the black-haired head bent backwards. Something mystified Lucifer however: “Also, do you smell smoke?”

“Lucifer!” Ignoring his questions, Chloe hissed at him with raised eyebrows, and pointed to the other side of the room to a weeping woman, who was being interviewed by a police officer. Lucifer let it go for the moment and for the first time since entering the crime scene, he took the time to take in his surroundings. The villa he had been called to had an admirable view over the Pacific and was without a doubt one of the high-end addresses of LA. Lucifer briefly pondered why Chloe’s homicide division was almost always called to murders among members of the upper class – not that he minded, au contraire.

The luxurious driveway had been packed with police cars and vans, an ambulance and hordes of officers searching the surroundings – forcing him to leave his Corvette near the estate’s gate. He quite liked the interior design of the house, especially the large and richly filled bar caught his attention – would anyone notice if he were to take a quick nip? Well, Chloe was already glaring at him, so he pushed the thought away and looked at the rest of the living room. Or at least what he could see of the living room in between the swarms of police staff looking for fingerprints and, presumably, a weapon. Expensive black leather couch, expensive paintings, expensive rug, expensive champagne on the expensive glass couch table, expensive chandelier, expensive glass vitrine, expensive… metal… cups? Lucifer stepped closer to a vitrine which was filled with trophies and all kinds of peculiarly shaped glass and metal pieces of art a four-year-old could have created.

“Vic’s name is Dexter Harrelson. Age 42, he’s a tv-show producer. These are his awards.” Chloe had stepped next to Lucifer.

“TV? That would explain these hideous lumps of molten scrap,” Lucifer snorted.

“Who cares about their shape as long as they signify appreciation for his work?” Chloe pointed out.

“Don’t you mean appreciation for infinity pools and lonely playmates?”

“Pools, yes. Playmates? Not so sure. Look at the mourning wife, Vivien Harrelson. She was the one who called us.” The detective and Lucifer turned to look at the sobbing woman. She was a surprisingly surgically untouched, average height and average weight blonde in her late thirties, who under different circumstances might have had a nice, friendly, and open face. But now, her body language communicated pain, she could barely stand up straight nor contain her sobs and wails. She constantly needed more tissue to blow her nose and kept crying uninhibitedly. 

Lucifer thought it was disgusting, the way this person showed her grief. Or rather, showed it off. It all did seem over the top and he rolled his eyes at the whimpering sounds Mrs. Harrelson made while she tried to speak with the officer. Being the devil, he had seen _real_ despair and _authentic_ displays of pain, he had never understood how humans could make such a fuzz about the deceased. After all, they were the ones who were still alive! But, he reasoned, that was probably because the humans he encountered were atheists and did not believe in infernal or – Devil forbid – heavenly family reunions. Although, he had to admit, seeing Father Frank and Officer Joan die in his arms and losing Charlotte had caused a bit of grief in himself, but an overproportionate amount of rage as well. Weeping like a baby wouldn’t have done anything to punish the culprit.

“Nay, but the champagne, Detective! Two glasses!”

“Lucifer is right,” Ella joined in, picking up one of the glasses, which was empty but featured a light trail of lipstick. “He wasn’t gurgling the bubbly alone.”

Chloe took the glass and inspected it in the light. “Hm, a light shade of rosé.” She looked over to Mrs. Harrelson who wasn’t wearing any make-up at all. “Check it for fingerprints, will you?” she said, handing the glass back to Ella.

“Naturally.”

Chloe turned to Dan: “Any signs of the gun?”

“No luck yet, we’re still searching the premises, which will take a while considering the size.”

“Well, luckily, all good things come to those who douche,” Lucifer informed Dan smiling diabolically. At that, the detective rolled his eyes and turned to an officer, who was passing by. “Officer, any signs of the weapon yet?”

“Uhm, no, sorry Sir. Uhm, we’re still looking, I think,” the addressed officer responded nervously.

Dan looked at her name tag and asked: “Officer Farren, are you alright? You look very pale?”

“Uhm, yes Sir, I-I’m sorry, it-it is the first time I’ve been called to a murder scene, Sir.” With a hint of panic in her eyes she glanced at the couch and back to Dan.

“I understand. A sight like this can be very disturbing.” He softly padded her arm. She was an attractive, young blonde and she seemed to relax under his warm gaze and reassuring hand. “Why don’t you help the officers upstairs? Then, report back to me.” Dan suggested.

A smile returned to the officer’s pale face. She nodded and headed slowly upstairs, followed by Dan’s pitiful gaze.

“Oh, how gallant of you, Sir Daniel. Perhaps you should invite her to your improv club? You know, help her overcome her insecurities?”

“Just shove it, Lucifer, alright?! Everyone has had a first time. It’s never easy.”

Lucifer’s devilish grin widened, he looked the detective up and down. “I bet it wasn’t.”

Dan was about to protest but was interrupted by Chloe who pressed on with the investigation.

“Has anyone checked the premises for video cameras? A villa like this and a VIP like him should have some sort of security system?” she asked.

Arnold Miles, officer at the LAPD tech’s department, informed the team that there were no video cameras. This had been confirmed with the wife.

“Seems like whoever shot Dexter knew there weren’t cameras around.” Chloe hypothesized.

Lucifer grew impatient, as usually, and wanted to navigate himself into the centre of attention again. “The wife. I think it is time I question her. She seems to be overreacting. Or she is a supreme candidate for a Golden Raspberry,” he said with the flamboyant self-confidence known to those around him and marched towards the sobbing Mrs. Harrelson.

Chloe caught up with him just in time. “Lucifer, stop! Can’t you see she is in pain?! You cannot barge in there like a freight train!”

Appalled by this ill-chosen comparison, Lucifer looked at Chloe. “Detective, she must know _something_. We are looking for a woman sipping champagne and wearing light rosé lipstick in an intimate setting with Mr. P&P…” Chloe’s puzzled look made Lucifer explain: “Pools and playmates. So, the victim knew his murderess and by extension the wife might know something about her, too.”

Folding her arms, Chloe took a deep breath. However, she could not deny that Lucifer might have a point and nodded at the officer, who was guarding Mrs. Harrelson, to leave them alone. The detective pointed a warning finger at Lucifer, signalling him that she would be the only one doing the talking.

“Mrs. Harrelson. My name is Chloe Decker, I’m leading the investigation of your husband’s murder. Let me start by offering my sincere condolences. I am aware this is a very bad moment to ask this of you, but could you kindly answer some questions? Time is of the essence when catching a killer.”

Mrs. Harrelson sniffed. She did seem to understand the urgency of the investigation’s progress and nodded.

“Mrs. Harrelson, according to the temperature of the body and the appearance of the blood, we estimate your husband’s time of death at about an hour ago. Where were you between six and eight this evening?” Chloe asked as empathetically as possible, but nevertheless elicited a new fit of sobbing from the wife. At which Lucifer inwardly rolled his eyes.

“I… I left for my yoga class at six p.m.,” Vivien Harrelson eventually answered.

“When did you get there? Can the yoga studio confirm your class attendance?”

“Uhm, n-no,” the victim’s wife stammered. “Half-way there, I realized I didn’t feel well enough to participate in today’s class. So, I turned my car around and kept driving for a while without destination.” A sudden panic crept in her face. “I know driving around aimlessly is illegal.”

“Do not worry about that now. At what time exactly did you return home?”

“It must have been some time after seven” The detective made a note in her notepad.

“What happened then?”

“Uhm, I… I opened the front door and called for my husband. I wanted to tell him I had skipped the yoga class. When he didn’t answer, I walked around the house in search of him. When I left him, he had been by the pool.” Lucifer shot a pointed look at Chloe, who ignored him. Meanwhile, Mrs. Harrelson’s face was flooded with tears again.

“And then I found him…” Talking became impossible as her sobbing shook her entire body.

“What was the first thing you did when you found your husband?”

“I screamed, I think. And I almost fainted. But then I called the police.”

“Did you check whether he was still alive?”

Mrs. Harrelson looked even more worried and puzzled. “No. All that blood…”

“I understand. I am so sorry, but I must ask you a few more questions,” Chloe pressed on. “Did you see anyone leaving the premises when you arrived?”

“No.”

“It seems that Mr. Harrelson had had company. There are two champagne glasses on the table. Did you drink that champagne with him earlier?” At that, Vivien only shook her head.

“Do you know who his guest might have been?” Again, she shook her head and looked at the floor.

“Can you think of anyone who could have a grudge against Mr. Harrelson?”

Mrs. Harrelson shrugged her shoulders. “Dex gets – got into fights with many people. All tv-producers do.”

“Yes, also drinking champagne with your foe isn’t exactly standard procedure, wouldn’t you agree, Detective?” Lucifer interrupted Chloe’s interview, earning himself a scolding look.

“Are there any staff around the house or garden, who could have witnessed what happened?” Chloe asked. The wife shook her head.

Feeling much less like a freight train but rather like a third wheel, Lucifer had to cut in now. “Mrs. Harrelson, _Vivien_ , you are clearly hiding something from us. Now spit it out, we don’t have all night, some of us have a night club to get back to.”

The addressed widow stared at him in horror and fear, her lower lip trembling.

“Lucifer!” Chloe hissed, again.

“Oh come on, now. Tell me, what is your deepest desire?” Unable to tear her eyes from Lucifer’s glare, Mrs. Harrelson began stammering: “I-I, I don’t know, I am so confused.”

“No, no, no, Vivien, this won’t do. Think, really hard. What is it, that you truly desire?” This time, Chloe did not want to stop him, because even though she’d seen it many times, she was still mesmerized by his incredible gift to make people tell him their secrets. Because it did not work on her at all. Why did others fall for it, then?

Mrs. Harrelson’s face had changed. It seemed more relaxed, as if in a hypnotic state. “I wanted to divorce Dex. I’ve had enough of all his affairs. Every time I found out about a new affair, he promised he’d stop and that he could never live without me. Said he’d always love me the most. But I couldn’t take it anymore.” Lucifer shot a meaningful look at Chloe.

“He just wouldn’t sign the damned divorce papers,” Vivien cried.

“So, you decided to take till-death-do-us-part into your own hands,” Lucifer said matter-of-factly and turned to Chloe, smiling a self-sufficient I-told-you-so-smile.

“What? No! I did not kill Dex!” Vivien panicked.

“Mrs. Harrelson, do you own a gun?” Chloe asked.

“No, there are no guns in this house.”

“Please understand that we have to look for gunshot residue on your hands and clothing.” Chloe took another note.

“Hang on. What affairs were you talking about?” Lucifer was annoyed that his theory might have been a dead end after all, but happy like a puppy to follow a new lead.

“Oh, I once caught Dex kissing another woman at a party. And sometime later, I found explicit messages on his phone, from another lover he must have had.”

“When was this?”

“About a year ago?”

“Did you know these persons?”

“Not really. One of them worked at one of his studios. But he swore he had ended it.” The sobbing returned.

Chloe thanked the widow and informed her she had to stay in town for further questioning. Then, she guided Lucifer back towards Dan and Ella.

“I don’t understand why she is all in floods, despite her filing for divorce,” Lucifer said.

“Lucifer, love is complicated, alright? Even if her love for him was faltering, seeing your still-partner in such a state would bring anyone to tears.” Contemplative silence was all she received as an answer from Lucifer.

“Dan, any news on the weapon or the vanished guest?”

“Ella is working on the identity of the rosé-lady. Still no sign of the murder weapon. But, another puzzle turned up.” Detective Espinoza took a breath before he started filling Chloe and Lucifer in with details of this newly arisen conundrum.

“It seems there was a jogger who passed by the Harrelsons’ villa at the time Dexter Harrelson was shot. The jogger, a George Flamton, called the police at 6:54 p.m. Said he’d heard gunshots from inside the villa. Three gunshots, to be precise. The operator told him to stay safe and out of sight but nearby. But Flamton was too scared and took off. The police directed a patrol car here, which arrived shortly after Vivien Harrelson had called the police herself at 7:22. Now here’s the funny bit. Flamton claimed to have heard three shots. Harrelson’s body carries only two gunshot wounds, as far as we can see. Our officers are searching the area now to find where the third shot might have hit a wall or something, but so far – nada.”

“What if he was shot in the same wound twice?” Chloe asked.

“The autopsy would reveal that of course. But judging from the look of entry points, there is only one bullet per whole,” Ella tuned in. “I’m still puzzled by this other blood stain on the couch though…” she mumbled to herself rather than talking to the others.

“We need to speak with the jogger. Dan, please contact him.” Chloe looked around, took another long look at the body and the crime scene in total. Then, she ordered her officers to check the house for any signs of the affairs Mrs. Harrelson had mentioned. Gifts, hidden treasure boxes, conversations the victim may have had. Letters, text messages, emails, calendar entries. Anything that could disclose information on who he was meeting on that fatal evening. She believed that Vivien Harrelson told the truth and that the lady with the light rosé lipstick was the killer. Or leading them to the killer.

“Right, so _that_ exquisite drop of champagne is not offered to just anyone, therefore I’d say we’re looking for Dex’s latest affair. A lovely lady with a fleshy, voluptuous bottom lip, judging by the size of the rosé mark.” Lucifer concluded, reading his partner’s thoughts.

“Ella, Dan, I’m afraid this means we’re putting in a night shift. I’ll call the babysitter, you two get to work at the station. Lucif- where are you going?!” Chloe called after her eloping consultant.

“Lux requires my attention, do let me know if anything interesting turns up!” Lucifer yelled back.

The Devil had left the building.


	3. Chapter 2

Back at the station, Ella was running the fingerprints and DNA-samples through the database, while Dan went through the paperwork and the laptop they had secured at the crime scene. Chloe had held a video chat with George Flamton, the jogger who had reported hearing the gunshots. He had maintained that there were three shots altogether, fired in a quick succession, the third bang perhaps only slightly later than the first two. Of course, as far as witness statement credibility was concerned, Flamton could have imagined the third shot, Chloe thought. The man had been rather nervous and had fidgeted with his hands a lot, and he had avoided looking directly into the camera. He had apologized for leaving like he did, Chloe had thanked him for his statement and ended the call.

She paced around her desk, pondering who else might have profited off Harrelson’s death, if not his wife. She also noticed that until this point, they had not been able to locate his mobile phone. Nor the murder weapon, for that matter. Something felt odd about this case. They had too many loose ends and she failed to see any connection so far. Had Lucifer said something about smoke? What was it that Ella had mumbled about another bloodstain? Why did Flamton hear three gunshots when there were only two shot wounds and no other bullet to be found?

On the bright side, for once, Lucifer did not seem to be personally involved in the case nor did he try to utilize it to resolve his own psychological issues. His stepping in and out of investigations as he pleased could be infuriating at times, and yet she valued his assistance, which usually came about just when she expected it the least. Or in ways she couldn’t have possibly dreamt of.

Eventually, it was Ella who was the first to announce a breakthrough. “Chloe! There’s a match in the database! The fingerprints on the rosé glass belong to a Ms. Amanda Maynard, 33 years old, 87 Lockwood Ave, East Hollywood. It’s on your screen, now,” she beamed and walked around the detective’s desk to share a look at the digital file.

“Finally,” Chloe let out a relieved sigh and read out the case details. “Maynard was once involved in a case of extortion and blackmail, but the charges were dropped due to the lack of evidence against her. Perhaps she was at Harrelson’s place to carry out a new extortion plan?”

“That could explain why we didn’t find Harrelson’s phone – she took it.” Ella added thoughtfully.

They both looked at Maynard’s mugshot. Despite her rather unhappy face, which probably had to do with her being arrested, she was a stunning and beautiful woman. Dark brown skin, short cropped black hair, huge, black eyes, prominent cheekbones and – Chloe had to suppress a smile – sensual, voluptuous lips.

“Dan, please get us the file on her case from archives, will you? Thank you.” Chloe’s former husband had already started jogging in the direction of the archive. A few moments later, the three of them looked at the reports and photographs of the old case. The manager of a well-known restaurant chain had pressed charges against Maynard, claiming she had tricked him into believing she’d had a real romantic interest in him, when in fact she had been extracting sensitive information from him and had tried to blackmail him. However, he did not have sufficient proof for his claims, nor did Maynard confess any of the deeds she had been accused of. Eventually, the charges were dropped, and Maynard was set free.

Ella was considering the facts. Something bothered her though: “But if Maynard is indeed a clever blackmailer and extortion is her kind of thing, then why murder Harrelson? Why kill the cash cow?”

Making a smacking sound with her lips, Chloe nodded. “Dan, can you check Harrelson’s bank accounts? For regular payments to Amanda Maynard or odd cash withdrawals?”

Ella’s brain was in full-detective mode now: “Orrr, what if that restaurant manager set her up?” Waving her index finger dramatically, she painted the picture: “Stalked her, followed her to Harrelson’s, killed him, abducted her and now he plans to plant this on her.” A little less certain she added: “Somehow.”

One could only admire the commitment that this forensic scientist put into her work. Chloe looked at her colleague appreciatively and said: “Not sure about that last bit. But who knows? I guess only Amanda Maynard can answer that. I’m sending an APB out. Dan, you’re coming with me to Maynard’s apartment. Hopefully, we’ll soon be able to speak with her.”


	4. Chapter 3

09:11 p.m. We have suspect’s identity! Meet you at her apartment?

09:13 p.m. _Can’t. Let me know if something interesting turns up._

09:14 p.m. You said that the last time. Killer’s identity is not interesting enough?!

09:15 p.m. _Not until you’ve caught her._

09:16 p.m. Until **I** have caught her? What happened to “We solve cases together”?

09:18 p.m. Hello?!

09:22 p.m. Whatever made me think that partners help each other for better or worse...

09:24 p.m. _Darling, you’ve got your vows mixed up._

09:25 p.m. Remind me of that, next time you **desire** to be part of **my** investigation.

11:07 p.m. I need you at the station. Come immediately. C

11:15 p.m. Lucifer? Where are you?! Please come down to the station right away!

11:26 p.m. _Sorry. Sound was off. Wouldn’t have heard it anyway, due to my ears being suqeezed in between Britanny’s…_

11:27 p.m. ...

11:29 p.m. Just come to the station already. **NOW**.

11:30 p.m. … _hands! Don’t panic, I’m already out front._

“What? Doesn’t everyone just love a good head massage?!” Lucifer asked Chloe, who was glaring at him with the temper of a bull about to chase the red flag. The Devil looked from her to Dan, who seemed to be equally brimming with rage. Both detectives stood united, wide stance, arms folded, jaws clenched, nostrils flaring.

With a hint of honey in his voice, Lucifer maintained: “At least you two could use one.”

“HOW COME,” Chloe began thundering, but lowered her voice when her colleagues turned around in surprise, “how come that each and every single case I work on somehow ends up being about _you_ , Lucifer?!”

“I’m not sure whether to be flattered or alarmed? What happened?”

Too enraged to keep on talking, Dan took over from Chloe: “We’ve found the murder suspect. The rosé lady.” Dan studied Lucifer’s reaction carefully. The latter was waiting for the detective’s revelation and tilted his head to hear more. “Turns out you knew her all along. You knew those lips.” Dan spat the words more than he said them.

A smile spread on Lucifer’s face, he let out a relieved breath. “Ahh. Now that can’t be true, can it? You must have made a mistake, Detective. I assure you, I have had nothing to do with this case.”

“ _I_ have made a mistake?!” Chloe was fuming. “Of course, because the devil doesn’t make mistakes and would never forget not even _one_ of his zillion floozies.”

Obviously offended, Lucifer was not happy at all with the direction in which things were moving. “Detective, my word is my bond. I did not play any role in this case,” he repeated calmly but firmly. “However, I cannot speak for any of my _floozies_ , as you so elegantly put it. Unlike certain other deities, I do not hover above the city and track each and everyone’s lives.”

Chloe shifted her weight and narrowed her eyes. “Here I was, thinking that for the first time since we met, I’d get to work on a normal case. I know, I know, homicide is never normal. But still… the fingerprints led us to Amanda Maynard. Ring any bell?” Lucifer shook his head and decided to let Chloe’s challenging gaze go unremarked.

“So, we drive all the way to East Hollywood to her apartment – to find it burgled. The entire place turned upside down. No sign of her. We learn she’s a tv-actress and Harrelson was her employer. And just when we’re about to give up talking to neighbours and possible witnesses, Ella calls us:

_‘Remember the strange blood stain we didn’t notice at first because it was nearly invisible on the black couch?’_

Us: _‘No.’_

Ella: _‘Oh, looks like it was me telling me about it. Anyroads, that little bugger kept puzzling me. You see, the angle from where the vic must have been shot indicates that he was already sitting on the couch when he was hit. Not, for example, standing up and slumping backwards onto the couch. Which by the by could mean that he knew his killer. But I digress. If the bullet hitting the sitting man had caused any drops of blood to go flying around, they certainly would not have landed 40 inches to his left.’_

Us: _‘What are you trying to tell us?’_

Ella: _‘Sooo, I ran a DNA check on the blood. And now, lady and gentleman, hold on to your pants: The blood matches the DNA of the lipstick and saliva we found on the glass!!’_

Us: _‘Does that mean that Maynard was shot, too? That could explain the third gunshot!’_

So, we start thinking. If Maynard was shot but not fatally wounded, perhaps she’s not the murderer, but a witness! We start calling the hospitals around Harrelson’s district. Nothing.”

Dan, Lucifer, and also Ella were staring open mouthed at Chloe as she worked herself into a state of hysteric rambling, even recounting the entire phone conversation she and Dan had had with Ella, including a pretty entertaining impersonation of Ella’s expressive way of talking.

“Yes, I begin to see the arc of suspense, but why don’t you calm down, Detective? Your ears a burning red and I hate to inform you, that can’t be a healthy sign, unless you’re orgasming. Are you?”

Chloe grunted and rolled her eyes: “I’m not finished yet!” Lucifer’s lips formed an _Ahh_ and she cursed herself for involuntarily playing along with his innuendo.

She continued through gritted teeth: “Only a few moments later, the station calls. The APB was successful, a patrol car had found Maynard two miles away from the crime scene, wandering around in a park. Clothes soaked with blood.” Chloe spoke very slowly now, carefully pronouncing each syllable. “The officers want to take her to the hospital. She refuses. One officer forces handcuffs on her, after all, she is suspected of murder. She. Breaks. His. Arm. _Single-handedly_.” Lucifer lifted a commendatory brow at this.

“The other officer tasers her, and finally brings her in.”

For the first time, Chloe visibly drew in some air. Exhaling slowly as if breathing through labour, she delivered the final piece of information: “Now, this _woman_ is sitting in our holding cell, claiming she’s never heard the name Maynard or Harrelson before. The only thing she knows is, that she needs to speak with _you_. Lucifer, the love of her life.”


	5. Chapter 4

Dan’s reassuring touch on her arm had helped Chloe’s mind to calm. Seemingly, Lucifer had been genuinely concerned about the detective towards the end of her tirade. Never before had she yelled at him like that – not counting minor incidents of malapropos Luciferness during previous investigations. He even bit back a remark on that intriguing last bit of information she had shared about the incarcerated suspect.

Lost for any other word, Chloe had pushed past her partners and made them follow her through the station. While the front guard, who had admitted them to the floor of the holding cells, had shown no interest in their visit nor any other sign of disturbance, the guards they had passed on the inside seemed uneasy, anxious even. One officer was avoiding eye contact, another greeted the team nervously, as if uncertain what to say, and yet another one blushed deeply, when they approached him.

Chloe did not seem to notice any of this, she was marching fiercely ahead, her long ponytail swinging dramatically from left to right and back with each step. Looking at this golden pendulum as Lucifer followed her could be quite hypnotizing. Also, that cute little pout she made when she was upset was well worth risking the occasional scolding, Lucifer thought fondly. Things would soon be alright again, between him and her, he was certain. Blaming him for deeds he didn’t do – or admittedly sometimes actually did do but wouldn’t necessarily tell her about, which was not the same as lying, mind you – would often take the pressure out of her current investigation. It allowed her to think more freely and realize things. That’s why they worked so well together, Lucifer reasoned. Therefore, he felt confident enough that this anger of hers would pass in no time at all.

The corridor they walked along to their destination was surprisingly long. Lucifer followed Chloe and Dan, curiously eyeing the other cells’ occupants that they passed, when something suddenly pulled him out of his handcuff reveries. “There it is again, that whiff of smoke. Surely you must notice it, too, Detective?” he asked Chloe, ignoring Dan’s presence as per usual. The scent reminded Lucifer of something, though what exactly he couldn’t say. It wasn’t the pungent, stinging stench of burnt material, rather the woody, sweet fragrance of fire and ashes that could be associated with warmth and cosiness.

“Nope!” was Chloe’s sharp reply, while Dan had turned around and looked at his frenemy in confusion.

“Are you serious? It is getting stronger by the second! Something is burning!” Lucifer maintained, also confused why the detectives did not notice the smoke.

“That would be my nerves.” Chloe said under her breath. They had reached a part of the corridor where hospital and prison architecture had been merged. In fact, these were the cells, where people in need of acute medical attention were detained. The team was met by a police officer with a sling around his neck to rest his casted arm in. Dan immediately reached out to this man: “Officer, how are you?”

“The painkiller is slowly kicking in. Man, taking that b- sorry, that crazy women to the station were the longest 30 minutes of my life.”

“I’m curious though, how did she manage to break your arm, Officer?” Lucifer had stepped up to the man and smiled at him, feigning a pitiful look.

“Ever heard of martial arts?” Chloe intervened, being a woman perfectly capable of breaking her partner’s arm without hesitation. “I am sorry, Officer, I hope you recover soon. We need to see her now.”

“Thanks. Yeah, she still won’t let the doc touch her. Good luck with that one, she’s a nut job.” The officer lifted his broken arm to prove his point and left the team.

They turned a corner and finally reached Amanda Maynard’s holding cell. A female doctor was watching her from outside the cell, apparently assessing how this woman could best be helped. This cell had three concrete walls and a thick wall of safety glass, through which they were looking at their prime suspect. Maynard was standing in the righthand corner of the cell, her chin tugged defiantly forward, her pose majestic, while she glared at the doctor. Maynard was even more beautiful in real life, Chloe thought bitterly.

When Lucifer laid eyes on the captive, two feelings erupted simultaneously: He felt relief because like he had predicted, he had never met this woman before. This however he regretted deeply, given her exquisite appearance. Apart from the enormous blood stain on her chest, everything about this person was attractive and appealing to him. Her face with the light hint of rosé lipstick, her figure, her posture, her dress, even her bracelet seemed to be calling to him, stirring something in his nether regions and spreading an odd sense of warmth through his chest. Though usually not one to ignore true desires, he felt embarrassed for imagining having sex with this lady right then and there. The newfound conscience that he had developed over the past years working with Chloe reminded him that he should not and could not view this woman as an erotic object. Glad of having thought this through before more blood had left his brain to build a strong case of desire elsewhere, he cheered up and said: “Ah, see, Detective! I have never met this woman in my life.” A little less loudly he added: “Unfortunately.”

At hearing his voice through the little holes in the glass wall, Amanda Maynard’s head turned abruptly, and she jumped towards the glass, pressing her palms against the transparent wall. “Lu!!” she cried, desperation and relief mixed in her voice. Both Chloe and Dan stemmed their hands to their hips and looked at Lucifer, their eyes saying _Really?_

Something started to dawn on Lucifer, though he couldn’t quite lay his finger on it yet. _The smell of smoke, the blood stain, Maynard saying she wasn’t Maynard, breaking a copper’s arm single-handedly, Lu… It couldn’t be, could it?_ Cautiously, he stepped closer to the glass wall and looked at the woman behind it. Making sure the detectives and the doctor couldn’t see his reflection, he locked eyes with the suspect and let his eyes flash red for the fracture of a second. Expecting Maynard to jump back in horror, he was surprised to find her pressed even closer to the glass.

“Yes, my Lord, it is me, Rakkaani,” she whispered, smiling with relieve.

Chaos and a hint of panic were rushing through the Devil’s head right now. Which problem to address first? Should he act as if he still didn’t know her? Should he rage at Rakkaani for disobeying his orders? Why and how she had she come here? How was she involved in the murder? How could he get her out of this cell? Where to next?

Becoming aware that everyone was staring at them, he had to make a quick decision. Stepping away from the cell, he said as quietly as he could muster: “Detective, a word please. In private.”

The doctor observed the scene before her and felt reminded of her time at the psychiatric ward. Dan was barely able to tear his eyes from the prisoner, while she was looking at the silent conversation, Lucifer and Chloe appeared to be having with their eyes. Lucifer seemed to beg for the detective’s trust, while she seemed on the brink of exploding with suppressed furiousness and incredulousness.

Lucifer’s face turned very serious and vulnerable, as he said: “Please, _Chloe_.”

_How does he do it? How does he get away with it?_ a shrieking voice in Chloe’s head wondered, as she gathered her last shred of goodwill and agreed to speaking with him privately. They walked back around the corner, Chloe folded her arms and stared at Lucifer, who was trying to compose himself and to find the right words.

“Detective,” – _Ah, now she was Detective again, freak!_ – “I know this may seem a little rash, but you need to let her go.”

“What?!” She didn’t even know where to begin…

“You were right, in some way. I do know her. Not Maynard, I mean, but the one who is inside her.”

“ _What?!?_ ”

“This woman is innocent. She was shot, and fatally wounded. She can’t have done it.”

Speaking as slowly and clearly as the circumstances would permit, Chloe said: “Will you please, for once, not speak in mysteries. Who is ‘inside’ Maynard? How do you know she is innocent?”

Lucifer tugged at Chloe’s arm and pulled her a little further away from Dan and the doctor still. “That’s the only explanation, however unlikely it may seem.”

A deep breath and a good nose-bridge-pinching later, Chloe asked: “What the hell are you trying to tell me?”

“Hell, yes, funny you should mention it.” The Devil cleared his throat as he watched Chloe turning pale and very still. “You see, it appears that your suspect’s _amazing_ body has been… recycled, so to say, and does now contain one of my demons.”

“What?! Like… like a possession?” Eyes widening in horror, Chloe tensed even more.

Lucifer flinched a little bit. “Don’t get me wrong, I _banned_ possessions, eons ago. The demons, they were just out of control… You’ve probably heard what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. But this one… apparently my absence from hell encouraged her to disobey me.”

Taking a while to process things, Chloe inquired: “So, you are telling me that Amanda Maynard was shot at the crime scene, has died, then a demon entered her body and now there is a zombie in my cell?!”

“Goodness, no! You do have a penchant for the dramatic today, haven’t you?” Seeing that this was not the right approach to soften the detective’s mood, Lucifer put his hands together and looked her in the eye: ”If you set her free, I will personally prove Ra… uhm.. Amanda Maynard’s innocence and help you find the real killer.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Chloe inquired, still nauseated by the notion of demons entering bodies.

“I won’t be. Please, Detective, trust me on this one.”

Everything about it was wrong, and she knew it. She should have thrown him out, informed her superintendent about the case, worked with a sane person like Dan. She had tried to view Lucifer as a regular person. A partner, who simply helped her to solve cases, and occasionally she also considered him a friend. This wasn’t the moment to dwell on those _other_ feelings she had for him. But how could she possibly argue with the _Devil_? She herself had seen things she couldn’t explain. She knew Mazikeen was a demon, and not such a bad one at that. So perhaps, he was right?

Another deep breath and Chloe agreed to Lucifer’s request. “Alright. But you have to pay her bail nevertheless. I’m not getting into more trouble as it is.”

Lucifer flashed a wide grin, his hand gestured to throw away concerns about the bail. He briefly hugged Chloe to his chest, releasing her immediately when he realized how she’d stiffened at the surprise. Instead, he thanked her.

With some effort, they persuaded the doctor to let the patient be, and tore away Dan from Maynard’s cell. After they settled the paperwork and the bail, Chloe and Lucifer collected Maynard’s belongings and returned to the glass wall to release the mesmerizing suspect – temporarily, until her innocence would be proven.

As the cell door opened, Lucifer held out his arms to Rakkaani, who ran towards him and embraced him fiercely. Surprised by her tight squeeze, he let himself enjoy the moment and hugged her, too. A sense of comfort, familiarity and warmth spread through his body. His nose caught the smoky scent he had been sensing all evening and it elevated him in a strange way. Usually, when he was reminded of hell, let alone it’s smell, he would have withdrawn immediately. But finding it in Rakkaani’s arms was like finding home. _Hang on!_ , he thought. _Hell isn’t home!_ He shook himself, gently broke the embrace and said: “Let’s go! We have a lot to discuss.”


	6. Chapter 5

Amanda Maynard had been more than shocked to find herself first shot and then expelled from her body within a matter of seconds. When Rakkaani had heard of the upcoming vacancy, she had made up her mind and finally followed her heart – in want for a better word for the demon’s personal passion. She had pushed Amanda’s soul out of her body before it could actually die, therefore the demon was now inhibiting this warm, soft, amazing physical form rather than a cold, corpsy one. There was a certain tinge of pain in her chest, but apart from that Rakkaani felt exhilarated. Why hadn’t she tried possessions earlier?!

The humans she had encountered so far had not been too nice, but she hadn’t expected anything else from them. Judging by how so many of them ended up in Hell, they were bound to be obnoxious on Earth, too. While she was sitting in the backseat of Lucifer’s car, Rakkaani marvelled at the lights that illuminated LA by night like a child that has been allowed to visit the fairground for the first time. Lucifer had turned on the radio to avoid the awkward silence between himself and Chloe. Rakkaani loved the sounds, a classic love song by someone called Chris Isaak, the voice in the radio informed her. She was too impressed by all those new impressions to notice Chloe’s controlling glare in the mirror.

Lucifer did not say much during the ride, as he still tried to figure out how to deal with Rakkaani’s obstinacy. Her effect on other people had not gone unnoticed and he had to send her back to hell. This, however, felt strangely wrong.

\---------------

Thunder and lightning occurring simultaneously could best describe the energy that electrified the room when the trio had reached Lucifer’s penthouse and encountered Maze there. The two demon ladies hugged each other tightly, screaming and dancing around the room overjoyed by their reunion.

“What are you doing here??” Maze beamed breathlessly. With a cautious glance at Lucifer, who was pouring the party drinks, she added: “How the hell did you get here?!” Leaving her no time to answer, she looked Rakkaani’s new form up and down: “This body is dope, Ra! You wanna swap?!” Before she knew it, Maze was grasping her friend’s breasts and squeezing her behind, which made Rakkaani’s body tingle. Lucifer, who had been preoccupied with the drinks, happened to look over at the two women and spilled half of his whiskey on the table without even noticing it.

Chloe meanwhile had been extremely uncomfortable ever since she had learned about Amanda Maynard’s new identity. Looking at her and Maze now did not help matters. She coughed politely, which let Lucifer snap out of his demon peep show and focus on the glasses in front of him. Cursing, he stopped the stream of the amber liquid and slurped the spillover off the tabletop.

“Ahhhhh”. The large sip left a sobering pain at the back of his throat and helped his mind to reset to working mode. “Maze!” he snapped. “Let Rakkaani freshen up and lend her some clothes. Preferably without bloodstains.”

“My pleasure, my Lord!”, Maze purred happily and meant every word of it. She guided Rakkaani to the bathroom, leaving Chloe and Lucifer alone in the living room. When Rakkaani re-emerged, clean and wrapped in a large, red towel, the devil and the detective were sitting on the terrace, deeply lost in conversation. Rakkaani stepped closer to listen to their words.

“No, no, I’m cool with it, really.” Chloe said, taking a hasty sip from her drink. “It’s not like she’s the first supernatural creature to cross my path. Ha, I’ve even lived with a demon!”

“Yet you are very tense, Detective.” Lucifer seemed unusually calm and concerned. “I believe my revelation to you and all subsequent detections still scare you.”

Chloe closed her eyes and smiled. “No, Lucifer. It’s not that. I’m over it.”

“What is it then?”

“Uhm, I’ve noticed how Maynard, I mean Rakkaani, made everyone nervous in a way. Or squeamish, even. I mean, did you see the way how Dan was practically petrified? As if he’d been caught in the act or something! And at the same time,” she swung her tumbler dramatically at that, “at the same time everyone is absolutely attracted to her. Even Maze is!”

“And who could blame her?”

“Are you… I mean, does she have the same effect on you?” Chloe asked, hoping her rising pitch did not make her seem jealous in any way.

“Who do you mean, Rakkaani or Maynard?” _Tread carefully_ , Lucifer thought to himself.

“Both, I guess?”

“Well, no point in denying sheer beauty when it hits you in the nuts, eh? Rakkaani, on the other hand, is a very special kind of demon. You see, with time, demons tend to specialize in certain types of punishment. Maze is a generalist – she is talented beyond belief in just about everything she does. Apart from babysitting perhaps. That’s why I brought her with me. Now, Rakkaani, she specialized in punishing souls, whose worst sin in life was to betray their loved ones in one way or another. To her, love is holy. She _is_ love. She radiates the desire for being loved, cradled, nurtured, cared for and ignites it in others. That’s what you saw happening with Dan and the others.”

“Uhmhm.” Uncertain what to say, Chloe just kept listening.

“Don’t let that fool you, however. Hell is about justice. And Dad believes in punishment, so there you have the celestial solution for restoring justice: Demons. They are the wardens of the prison that is Hell. Though He be the judge of where souls go, their conscience dictates which kind of punishment adequately fits the sins, I simply provide the logistics.”

Never before had Lucifer explained the nature of Hell in such detail to Chloe. Or if he had, she hadn’t been listening. She struggled to keep up with his story, as with each word, realizations dawned on her and she began questioning her own lifestyle and choices. Which sins had she committed? How many were there? Could she be forgiven? Would having a friend in the actual Devil make the prospect of an eternity in Hell less frightening? Trying not to lose control or to let the fear creep up again, she downed her whiskey and asked for another one. Lucifer gladly refilled her glass and went on.

“Now since there are countless new souls entering Hell every day, you can imagine I cannot possibly keep up with all of them. So, I have my trusted circle of personal assistants. Demons, who were bestowed with a little more intelligence than your average demon. Rakkaani is one of them. She is a fierce protector of love and the betrayed. She will _literally_ rip your heart out, let it sit there just out of reach and let you perish unloved in a never-ending hell-loop. Spouses, who betrayed their partners, will suffer from the exact same pain they have inflicted, only a zillion times worse. Children, abusing their parents’ love for their own benefit will find themselves in swapped positions, never receiving the love they crave. People who left their puppies tied to some lantern because they didn’t want them anymore will be tied to infernal lanterns and starved to death, over and over again. Trust me, you would rather not want to cross Rakkaani’s path.”

Chloe swallowed hard at all those revelations. Thoughts began racing back to former affairs and relationships. Had she betrayed anyone? Was her soul hell-bound? She shook herself and tried to wrap her head around the way Rakkaani’s mojo worked. “So, the people who nervously tried to avoid her stare, at the station I mean, did they feel her judgement? Can she know their sins?”

“Demons are a lot like drug dogs. Take Maze, for example. She didn’t become the best bounty hunter because she studied hard. True sins have a way of making themselves known.”

In the meantime, Maze had stepped up to Rakkaani to offer her some clothing. They both looked at the couple on the couch.

“How long has this been going on?” Rakkaani asked her friend, hinting at the two on the terrace.

“Oh, there is nothing going on. They are just weird around each other. At first, he wanted to fuck her, all of a sudden he didn’t want to anymore, then she learned who he was and schemed behind his back to have him killed.”

“You let that happen?!” Alarmed, Rakkaani spun around, grabbed Maze’s demon knife and held it to her throat. Impressed at her speed and turned on by Rakkaani’s rigorousness, Maze calmed her friend:

“Relax, he is still here, isn’t he? And what do you care? He’d have returned to Hell, finally.”

Rakkaani let the blade slip from Maze’s throat, but kept it in her hand. “Apparently, that’s not what he wants,” she said with a trace of sadness in her voice. “And what do you mean, ‘have him killed’? The Devil is immortal.”

“Oh, not when she is around.” Maze only hinted with her head in Chloe’s direction.

“How?” Now Rakkaani was truly puzzled.

“God had her made, so that she would cross Lucifer’s path, once he’d leave hell. She makes him vulnerable. When she’s with him, he could actually die.”

“WHAT?! Why didn’t you eliminate her?!” Rakkaani’s rage bubbled up again and Maze had some difficulty in holding her back from storming towards Chloe.

“Stop, no! I know exactly how you feel!” Indeed, she did. And she relished the thought that finally she could share those feelings with someone, who would understand. “But we can’t hurt her. First of all, he won’t allow it. Secondly, this is Earth, we just don’t just go around killing people.” Maze looked at the shot wound on Rakkaani’s chest and added: “Well, usually.”

In a mixture of pity and disgust, Rakkaani said: “ _We_? How much this place has changed you…”

“I guess it has.” Maze wasn’t sure whether it was a good or a sad thing that her demon friend thought she’d changed. Rakkaani’s comment set her thinking, but Lucifer stopped her train of thought. He and Chloe had entered the living room. Sweeping his eyes over Rakkaani’s towel-wrapped body, it did need Chloe’s elbow poking his ribcage for him to focus on their task.

“Ehem, Rakkaani, darling, we do have some questions regarding the… body you are currently occupying.”

_Did he just call her_ darling _?_ Chloe was once again taken aback. What happened next actually made her jaw drop. Rakkaani unwrapped the towel, and asked them, dead serious and stark nakedly: “You mean this?” The demon looked down on her body and then from one person to the next. Maze grinned brightly. Lucifer raked his eyes over every inch he could see, forgetting about the investigation altogether. Chloe still couldn’t close her mouth, nor could she look away. _Sheer beauty_ , like he had said…

Surprisingly, Lucifer was the first to regain control. He stepped closer to Rakkaani and securely closed and fastened the towel. “Yes, love, this body. How did you come by it?”

“The usual way. While the soul was being judged, I already knew its destination. So, before it left the body, I took over. I know you don’t tolerate…”

“Shush, we’ll talk about that later,” Lucifer stopped her. “We need to know more about its previous occupant. Did she tell you something about her murder?”

“Well, like I said, we didn’t get to chat, because I pushed her out. Had I waited and shown her the proper welcome in Hell, I would have had a cold and creepy body. But I wanted a fresh and warm one.”

“Naturally,” Chloe tuned in, trying to act casually and actually addressing Rakkaani for the first time directly. “When you woke up – or whatever it is you do – in this body, where exactly were you and what did you do next?”

Rakkaani contemplated not answering at all to this infuriating blonde who was a hazard to Lucifer’s well-being. However, Maze pushed her and so she said:

“I found myself on a black couch in a large living room. A corpse lay next to me, I recognized him, he had just come down a few moments earlier. I got up and left the house. I wanted to find Lucifer. Most of the humans I asked about him either walked away or they wanted to call an ambulance.” Turning to Lucifer, she added: “But no one could tell me where you were, Lu, so I just kept walking. Until those policemen arrived and tried to torture me.”

“Handcuffs are not supposed to _torture_ anyone, they just limit your ability to move,” Chloe pointed out.

“Well, not where I come from!”

“In her defence, being tasered is no fun either. Which means a lot, coming from me.” Lucifer added, upon which Chloe could have stabbed him with her eyes.

“I- I am sorry. I forgot that _that_ happened, too. All I thought about was the officer’s broken arm.”

“Bloody Americans. Tasering an unarmed black woman. I’d truly look forward to meeting that officer in the afterlife,” Maze said through gritted teeth.

An awkward silence began to stretch, as two demons and one devil expected Chloe to say something more.

“But, you said you got up and left the house. Did you see anyone in the house or just outside of it? I mean, if you entered Maynard’s body just before she would have died, the killer can’t have gotten very far?”

“Good point, detective,” Lucifer agreed, all expectant looks now shifting to Rakkaani.

“If there was someone, I did not see them.”

This frustrated Chloe, who threw her hands in the air. “Here we are, in the most unlikely, even unique position of speaking to the actual murder victim, but she can’t help us. Another dead end.”

Just in that moment, a phone beeped. Lucifer, Chloe and Maze immediately checked their phones, but the beep hadn’t been theirs. They looked at each other, puzzled, until Chloe found the answer. It had been Amanda Maynard’s phone. The beep had come from her purse, which was part the of few belongings she had had when the police had brought her in. Apparently, Rakkaani had been carrying that purse without realizing it. The beep unfortunately had signalled that the phone’s battery had died.

“I will take this to the station, the tech team will have a charger and will be able to retrieve contents. Maybe we will find out something else about Harrelson or even the killer.”

“Do you want me to drive you?” Lucifer asked.

“No, I’ll get a cab. You stay here and watch her.” Chloe turned to Lucifer and looked him in the eye. “You asked for my trust, don’t lose it.” She didn’t wait for a response and started walking towards the elevator.

“I’ll drive you,” Maze interjected, going after her. “I bet those two have a lot of catching up to do.”


	7. Chapter 6

The car ride with Chloe felt slightly uncomfortable, as both women didn’t know exactly what to talk about. After Maze had felt it imperative to move out of Chloe’s apartment and life, the two of them had had less and less touching points. Thankfully, Maze had found a real friend in Linda, who always knew how to explain the tricky ways of the human world to her.

Funny, that Chloe had never thought about how Maze had obtained her body. Somehow, she assumed she could just materialize out of thin air, like Lucifer. That demons might be using actual dead bodies to turn themselves from invisible forms of energy into physical beings had never occurred to Chloe. Curiousness got the better of her, so she asked Maze: “Sooo, demonic possessions, do they work with animals, too?” That came out weird, Chloe mentally face-palmed herself.

Maze looked at her in an irritated and slightly disgusted way. “Nooo?”

“Uhmhm. And your body, did it… was it dead? I mean… are you possessing it?”

“Duh! What would I do with a body in hell?” Maze replied matter-of-factly.

“Sorry, I… I don’t know.” Being a mere mortal, the supernatural was just becoming so difficult to deal with. Sometimes, Chloe wondered if _not_ knowing the truth and simply working with a slightly deranged consultant and his weird family and friends wouldn’t have led her to a happier life. It was a lot to take in, like Linda had said. No insignificant amount of people were locked away in padded cells for claiming having seen the exact same things that she had seen. Believing in something, let alone believing in herself had become an almost impossible task.

“Maze, I know we’ve had our differences and I truly apologize for being a jerk sometimes. But please try to understand my position. My entire worldview was just turned upside down. I am kind of slow in processing all of this. And Lucifer, I mean, he’s no great help either. He let me see his… other side… you know… and after that it took a long time for me not wake up every night screaming because of the most terrifying nightmares.”

“Does Trixie know?” Maze asked, somewhat more empathetically.

“God, no!” Chloe added quickly: “Uhm, sorry about that. God… you know.”

“If he was your father, you’d be mad, too. Speaking of which, at the penthouse, you said you were over it, that our true nature didn’t scare you anymore. What makes you so tense then?”

Chloe stared out of the window. Until this point, she had avoided thinking about her emotions that day altogether. The way, she had nearly lost it at the station had clearly shown that there was more to it than simply being angry at someone breaking a cop’s arm. But dared she even let her thoughts dig deeper?

“It’s Ra, isn’t it? She freaks you out?”

“No!” Chloe defended immediately. “Well, she doesn’t _freak me out_. It’s just… with Lucifer and her… I wonder…”

“If they’re doing it right now? Hell yeah!” Maze did nothing to hide her approval. When she noticed Chloe’s unhappy face, she added. “Which is not to be confused with love, you know? A common mistake we regularly stumble upon among you humans!”

“It’s just, I really thought we had something there, you know. But then, there was the Candy incident. And then Eve came, and now Rakkaani. _Another one_ knowing him so much better than I ever will. Another one claiming ‘Lu’ to be the love of her life.” Chloe used her fingers set _Lu_ into quotation marks and then began chewing her bottom lip. She had never confided her frustration over Lucifer’s countless love affairs in anyone. Perhaps Maze was not the best address, either.

“Usually, his lovers do not come much further than that when shouting his name in extasy. Too many syllables,” Maze laughed, by way of explanation. “Man, I can’t believe that Ra is here. There is so much I need to show her!”

Thankfully, they had just reached the station, where Chloe could escape the car and the uncomfortable conversation. She thanked Maze for the ride and dropped off the mobile phone at the tech department for them to examine the possible evidence first thing in the morning. Then, she took her own car to finally get home and release her babysitter, at three o’clock in the morning.


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, I'm very nervous to post this... Hope you'll like it, despite Lucifer's behaviour.  
> Rated E!

One hour before, Lucifer was left at his penthouse, which despite its size and airiness suddenly felt too small to contain both such overwhelming beauty and such effervescent desire. When the lift doors had slid shut, Lucifer had swiftly taken the few steps to close the gap between his and Rakkaani’s body. He had briefly contemplated how to best show his disappointment in her disobedience, how to show her what the consequences would be for such outrageous behaviour. But feeling her so close, breathing her scent, a mixture of his own musky soap, Amanda Maynard’s seductive perfume and the hint of mild ashes made him oblivious of his concerns.

When he had left hell for good, leaving Rakkaani behind had been one of his toughest decisions. She had been much closer to him than Mazikeen. Not only had Rakkaani been one of the very few demons, he could trust blindly, she had also been his lover. And above all, she was loyal and honest, given the nature of her special demonic occupation. If he was going to leave hell unguarded, then she would be the one to carry on his work, so he thought. Without ever actually explaining any of this to her. Mazikeen on the other hand was an excellent fighter who could get him out of just about any kind of trouble. Just the type of right-hand demon when encountering unpredictable humans. So, he had left, without informing Rakkaani of his plans, without saying goodbye. What a coward he had been, he now thought to himself, as he stared into the eyes of Amanda Maynard, through which Rakkaani looked back at him.

“Oh darling, Ra.” His hands softly cupped her cheeks, drawing her face nearer to his, lips ghosting over her mouth. Her chest rose significantly as she gasped sharply at this new, exciting physical sensation. Maze had insisted on Rakkaani trying out her new body for sexual pleasure, had tried to explain the wonders of the sensual stimulation and its thrilling results that made possessing human bodies so rewarding in the first place. In hell, making love meant that infernal, demonic energies merged, like two streams converging or sound waves crashing into one another. Shapes and forms, scents and tastes played no role. Pleasure had no container, no trigger and no release. By simply joining your energy with another demon or even the Devil himself, you showed companionship or affection.

Nothing prepared Rakkaani for the swoosh in her belly and the spark of bright heat between her legs, as Lucifer’s scent hit her senses. She watched him bite his own lips mere millimetres away from her and she forgot how to breathe. Seeing him, his human appearance, was a pleasurable experience in itself. His black hair, the lean face, the piercing dark eyes framed by fine black lines of lashes, his accurately trimmed stubble accentuating the sharp lines of his jaw, the promise of well-shaped muscles underneath his white shirt, his long but strong fingers holding her face. His manly shape seemed perfectly suited for the body she had chosen – his reaction to seeing her clearly left no doubts about that. He seemed to hesitate however, which gave her a few seconds to regain control over that lush, new body of hers. As patiently as possible, she breathed: “Yes, my love. _Tell me, what do you_ _truly_ _desire_?”

Ravenous, red hellfire set the devil’s eyes ablaze instantly and he crushed his lips on hers, kissing her wildly. Impatience and greed were written all over his manners, but with no-one there to judge his sins, he kept on madly seeking out her lips, sucking and biting those luscious, fleshy gates to her body. At the first slide of his tongue against her lips, Rakkaani hummed a surprised but appreciative moan into his mouth, gratefully letting his tongue seduce hers. While his hands still held her face, she mirrored his actions and pressed her soft hands to his cheeks as well.

Her warmth and tenderness flooded him, and Lucifer felt his stomach attempt to overcome gravity. He eagerly dived into the kiss and gave it all he had. Small groans escaped him, as he pressed his body tighter to hers, wanting to feel his beloved demon as close as possible. He let his hands slide off of Rakkaani’s face to brush along her arms and slip around her waist, to properly hug her to him. One hand came up to hold her head while the other tightly snaked around her hips. When their breathing became too ragged and they needed air, he let his mouth wander over her jawline and down her slender neck. He licked a hot trail down the side of her throat and softly bit into her naked shoulder. Placing open-mouthed, wet kisses all along her collarbones and the upper rim of the towel that covered her body, he suddenly pulled back when his lips encountered the distinct metallic taste of blood.

He examined her otherwise flawless skin and found the entry point of the bullet which had been fired at Amanda Maynard earlier that evening.

“Hm, not the kind of penetration I had in mind,” he snarled, set his mouth back over the mark, and started sucking hard at the wound. A few drops of blood filled his mouth, but he pushed all vampire comments that flooded his mind away for the benefit of the task he was on. He kept sucking a little longer and finally left the spot, straightened, and flashed a wide grin – revealing a 9mm bullet between his teeth. Rakkaani took it out of his mouth and inspected it thoughtfully. “It actually made breathing quite painful. But I guess I should be grateful, as it is the reason I can be here.”

Lucifer set the bullet carefully atop the piano and then pulled Rakkaani along with him towards the custom Italian leather settee. It didn’t take him long to get rid of the towel as well as his own clothing, including the offending underwear, which had prohibited his bona fide erection from exerting its God-given right to stand up for itself. He let Rakkaani’s body and mind experience a rollercoaster of emotions and sensations, putting all his skill into his hands, fingers and tongue. Ecstatic chanting and surprised laughter filled the room and Lucifer’s heart, as his mouth and fingers worked at her core, pumping hard and swirling fast. When Rakkaani’s breathing became ragged, her toes started curling and her thighs spasmed, he went for the kill, humming in a low voice, caressing her clit at just the right angle and bending his long fingers into the perfect curve. The words she shouted as her release washed through her were not of this world; hearing the demonic phrases made Lucifer smile proudly. Oh, there was so much he needed to show her…

Unbearably aroused, he pulled himself up and sat at his heaving demon’s side, his fingers never leaving her juicy core as her inner walls were still clenching around him. The Devil looked adoringly at his lover: “I apologize for this onslaught. I should have started slowly, with cuddles and feathers. But I couldn’t resist. There is so much you need to catch up on… Taste this…” With that, he kissed her passionately, making her savour the taste her own arousal which she greedily sucked from his lips.

Rakkaani was not sure, what exactly her body was doing, but she loved every part of it. The heat and sudden short circuit of her senses she had just experienced had been sensational. To feel Lucifer’s hot body on hers was wonderful and exciting. She couldn’t even begin to describe what he had done with his mouth and when he let her taste her sweet and salty self, it had set off a new, almost painful ache between her legs. When had everything become so wet? Her core released Lucifer’s hand and her eyes followed it, as it travelled slowly into his mouth, where he lusciously sucked his fingers clean, eyelids shut, head reclined on the backrest, obscene sounds rumbling in his chest. Rakkaani was fascinated by the naked, chiselled, gleaming body in front of her and intuitively started exploring it with her mouth. Still quite unaccustomed to the force she could apply, her eager kisses bruised the Devil’s skin, leaving love bites all over his neck, chest, and loins.

When he saw and _felt_ how she marked him, it turned him on even more. He pulled her onto his lap and let his mouth and hands play with her breasts while he mentally debated the need for protection. Being a celestial, he’d usually forego condoms, but after what happened to Amenadiel, he should perhaps not take any risks. But getting up right now was not an option either. Rakkaani’s demonic tongue had just asked him to merge their energies, the request bolting like lightning through the clouds around his head which were her plush breasts. Eagerly, he guided her hips to meet his throbbing cock. The deepest, most satisfying grunt escaped his throat as he sank himself deep into her hot wetness, slowly gliding all the way until he could reach no further. Also Rakkaani moaned, she closed her eyes and took hold of the backrest behind Lucifer’s head, to steady herself for his upcoming thrusts.

She had seen human sex many, many times. Souls in hell experienced it a lot, over and over, though it was _never_ the pleasure it had been when they were still alive. And it certainly could not be compared to what she was feeling now. The way his hardness filled her and teased her innermost parts, how his fingers dug into her butt to help them find a rhythm, how his teeth grazed her sensitive nipples simply thrilled her. With one hand, she let go of the lounge cushion and grabbed his hair, pulled his face up towards her and kissed him fiercely. While Lucifer started panting underneath her, desperately thrusting up to chase his own release, his demon friend had other plans. She firmly grabbed his chin and froze her hip, causing a frustrated and irritated Devil to slow down. His dark, glazed eyes looked up at her in confusion.

“Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” Suddenly worrying for the first time, that she might not like what he was doing rather to her than with her, Lucifer searched Rakkaani’s face for an honest reaction.

“Oh, I’m alright. I just don’t want this to be over so soon. Mazikeen told me of so many nice things to do…” A diabolical grin spread over Rakkaani’s face, which Lucifer found irresistible not to kiss. She denied this by pushing him back into the cushion.

“Darling, I promise we’ll go by the catalogue, once I’ve got this pressing matter settled,” Lucifer assured her, trying not to sound too needy.

Smiling and slowly shaking her head, Rakkaani got up and left a puzzled Lucifer behind, who whimpered at the cool air hitting his burning, wet cock. Her audacity mesmerized him, and he followed her, as she sauntered towards his bedroom. She seemed to look for something there.

“You mentioned… feathers?” Large black eyes looked up at him. Even if he had wanted to, he could not have stopped himself. His angel wings sprung from his back on their own accord, as if they too had been eager to get released. Rakkaani gasped and raked her eyes over the white glory spreading out before her. Almost devoutly, she whispered: “Such a rare sight.” Slowly, she stepped closer to Lucifer and let her hands run carefully along the edges of his wings. Impatience growing by the minute, Lucifer bent his right wing around her and pushed her into his arms, pressing his erection to her belly and the strong feathers of the tip of his wings between her cheeks. They stood like that for some time, kissing, feathers rubbing between her thighs, his hands fondling her breasts and her hands caressing his angelic features. Without a warning though, she plucked one feather from his back, about seven inches long and shining in brilliant white.

“Ouch!” Surprised, Lucifer took a step back. “Why did y…” Rakkaani made him forget his brief pain and complaint immediately. She sat down on the edge of the bed, one hand behind her to support herself, the other one guiding the feather in slow, torturing circles over her lips, chin, throat, collarbones, breasts, nipples, ribcage… She seemed to enjoy the soft sensation so much, Lucifer feared she’d forgotten all about him. He swallowed hard at her seductive sight and felt uncertain what to do. It did not happen often that his lovers abandoned him to enjoy themselves instead. Without him.

She caught his insecure moment. “Kneel,” she said, watching his ego fight his desire. This world, this body made her bold and while she was here, she wanted it all. When he still seemed reluctant to follow a demon’s orders, she repeated: “Kneel, my King.” This time, the Devil complied, slowly sinking onto his bare knees, feathers touching the floor, erection straining between his thighs. Rakkaani smiled and let his feather dance gently over her skin, revelling in the tingling feeling of the goose bumps this caused. “Hands behind your back,” she ordered, clearly seeing how Lucifer appreciated and loathed the torture at the same time. Apparently, he did approve since he played along and didn’t even dare to say a word. “Watch me,” she whispered.

Keeping an eye on her captive, Rakkaani leaned further back on the bed. Her legs parted so that Lucifer had no choice but to stare thirstily into the dampened, glistening gates that he so longed to push past with his impossibly hard erection. Hypnotically, the small feather now travelled along her folds, softly, slowly brushing up and down, first outside, then inside. Aroused to no end, Lucifer watched the plume circle Rakkaani’s swollen clit. The beautiful woman before him started making incoherent sounds, breathing elaborately, and rolling her hips. As her eyes drifted shut, and Lucifer suspected her climax close, he quickly took himself in hand to finally end his misery.

“Hands behind your back!” Rakkaani had caught him in the act and Lucifer was shocked enough to stretch his wings and quickly lift his hands behind his head, as if being caught by the police. Like this, he kneeled before her, unable to help himself nor to reach her. This kind of powerplay should not have surprised him, considering he was dealing with a demon. The latter had already returned her attention to herself and was quickly climbing again. Using only the feather and the appeal of this unique situation, Rakkaani brought herself to the brink of explosion.

She found herself intrigued by how the little feather made the skin it touched tingle in a pleasant way. Brushing it over her belly even sent soft, rolling, three-dimensional waves of pleasure down south. How curious, that the feeling resonated so deep in her flesh, despite the gentle touch on her body’s surface. Rakkaani wanted to explore this magnificent sensation for much, much longer, but her hand led the feather to her dripping core on its own accord. The first slow brush along her folds had set off an electric shock through her body and left a strong sense of yearning in its wake. When she dared to sweep again, heat began pulsing through the sensitive flesh and tunnelling into her. Something indescribable happened to her brain, which had given over control to her hand and felt strangely numb and free at the same time. The longer the feather caressed her labia and pearl, the hotter her insides felt. She’d forgotten everything around herself and became an oversensitive bundle of nerves. Suddenly, the soles of her feet began prickling, a sensation which soon wandered up the insides of her legs and threatened to take over her entire body. Breathing became too much of a job which had no room in this divine moment and only seemed to disturb the natural flow of pleasure within her. A final, feathery sweep around her oversensitive bud caused a ball of intensity and lust to explode in her centre and flood her body with heat and transcendence.

Her lustful moaning and writhing on the bed were more than Lucifer could take. He breeched her rules again and firmly wrapped one hand around his cock, stroking swiftly and hard. It felt so good to finally feel the friction and pressure he needed to release the desire that had been boiling in his loins ever since he had laid eyes on Rakkaani hours before. The manhandling of his aching cock felt rough, as he was lacking her lubricant, but he couldn’t stop himself now. To his surprise, Rakkaani didn’t stop him, either. His eyes had been closed while he pumped himself, but her silence had made him suspicious, so he risked a peek – only to find her watching him. Without words, she spurred him on to finish himself off. Just the thought of the picture they made, an angel kneeling before a glistening, spent demon, wanking frantically, was a sin in itself. And what a delicious one at that. With an earth-shattering groan, the Devil spent himself all onto the floor, powerful feathers trembling, regal face contorted, gleaming chest heaving.

He had to give it to her, she was extremely good at creating torturous scenarios. Lucifer had finally managed to tuck away his wings, to clean the floor and to pour them refreshments. Now, they were recovering from their exciting game, lying next to each other, lazily drawing patterns with their fingertips over the other’s limbs.

“So, this is what humans are prepared to kill for…” Rakkaani summarized her first physical sexual encounter.

“Yes, it’s not quite like the stuff that Hell has to offer,” Lucifer agreed. “Speaking of which, why did you come here?”

Turning slowly to face him, Rakkaani replied: “Eons and eons without you, your guidance and company were killing me. Dromos is scheming for new rebellions every week. Everyone is on edge, since no-one knows when or if you will return. Insecurity is a bad advisor when there is no king around.” Lucifer rolled his eyes at this. “And I missed you. So badly. Please forgive me for breaking the rule.” With that, she wrapped him in her arms and cradled his head to her chest. Like the first time when they had embraced each other, he felt a deep sense of connection, safety and caring. Did he _belong_ there, in her arms? How could he ever be mad at her?

“Why did you leave Hell?” she whispered, sadness in her voice.

“I think, burn-out describes it rather well,” was all he could answer.

“And why come here? Run a night club, work with the police?”

“One is fun and the other… gives me purpose.”

“Like you have no purpose in Hell?”

“No, Ra, _I_ don’t. It’s Dad’s idea of employment. Not the kind of occupation I’d have chosen for my kid.”

Rakkaani stayed silent and lightly toyed with his hair. After a while, she said: “What is it about you and this blond cop? Maze tells me she makes you vulnerable.” Her question caught him off-guard. He hadn’t thought about Chloe all evening, had even left the investigation entirely to her for purely selfish reasons. He truly had not shown his best partner qualities that night. Come to think of it, her furiousness must have had to do with that. He would make it up to her, he decided then and there.

Lucifer filled Rakkaani in on the situation with the detective, the prophecy and God’s role in it.

“How cruel of him. It’s almost like a Hell loop design,” Rakkaani commented.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, if God anticipated your escape from Hell and put Chloe in your path, it is cruel that you should meet her and not be able to love her, unless you wanted to doom mankind. And also that you could actually die, when she is around you. She is God’s safety cord.”

Lucifer snorted at that. “It’s like his final, desperate act to make me show the white feather.” A grim thought passed his mind. “Unless he sent, you, too?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He would never condescend to collaborating with demons.”

“True. But manipulating innocent humans to impair my life choices and annihilating my immortality, that is just like him.” Lucifer sent a scornful look towards the ceiling.

“So how is she taking it, her roll in all that?” Rakkaani wondered.

Sighing sadly, Lucifer said: “Not so well, I fear. She actually fled the continent once she’d seen my devil face.”

Rakkaani shifted underneath him and looked at him in surprise: “Why would she do that?”

“Well, raw flesh and flames leaking out of one’s ears is not exactly what makes you sexiest man alive.” Lucifer snorted and sat up on his elbows, to show his handsome human features.

“Maybe not in _their_ minds.” Rakkaani took his face in her hands and shot him a meaningful look. Lucifer stared into her obsidian eyes and saw the rouge d’enfer of his own eyes flare in the reflection.

“Show yourself, my King,” she whispered seductively. How could he not comply?

She watched in fascination, as slowly but surely patches of his skin turned from handsome human to infernally burnt celestial. Small flames flickered here and there, were Lucifer’s body transformed itself. He got onto his knees, to make space for his expanding and growing body. Thorns drilled themselves out of his spine, his hair vanished and finally, his majestic bat-like wings unfurled themselves. Also, _other parts_ had slightly grown in proportion, making Rakkaani gasp and shiver with anticipation.

This was a first for Lucifer. Even with Eve, he had never shown his full Devil self in bed. When he could find nothing but love and excitement in Rakkaani’s eyes, he let her touch his sensitive flesh. Watching his own claws travel over his demon’s pristine dark brown skin, he felt what it meant to be accepted for what he was and cherished her all the more for it. Upon discovering overwhelming evidence of her arousal between her legs, Lucifer sat back on his heels and pulled Rakkaani onto his lap once more, this time paying careful attention to letting her body slowly adjust to his size. Her deep groans and Lilim swearwords turned him on and made this a truly otherworldly experience. Rakkaani ground her hips against his groin while he buried himself deep inside her. Softly wrapping his enormous wings around them, he held her close and kissed her senseless. In that little cocoon, the temperature resembled a hellish climate and steamed the couple up.

All the want, all the need, all the greed and – most importantly – all the desire he had bottled up were finally allowed to break free. Whatever he needed, felt like, looked like, smelled like – Rakkaani would embrace it rather than run off and return with poisonous vials and ghastly priests in tow. The vulnerable part of Lucifer still hurt when he thought about how Chloe had turned against him, even if only for a short while and for understandable reasons. Yes, Linda had helped him to understand what Chloe had been going through, but still… It hurt, when he remembered the moment she’d finally seen his devil face. A murdered ex-lover/ex-lieutenant had not caused the shock and horror he’d seen in her face. It had been his true nature, that she couldn’t process, let alone accept. Why did it have to happen like this? Why had he not shown her his angel wings much, much earlier? It would still have been a shock, but a less frightening one, perhaps?

“Darling?” All movement had stopped, and Lucifer realized he had been entirely unfocused. Rakkaani looked at him questioningly.

“Forgive me, Ra. My mind has a tendency to wander, lately.”

“Where to?”

“Ah, you know, celestial enigmas.”

“Don’t you enjoy our merging of energies?”

“On the contrary, my love. And I shall devote all my attention to you now.” With that, he laid Rakkaani down on her back, lifted her legs over his shoulders – which was already rewarded with a lustful moan –, steadied himself with his hands on either side of her head and started rolling his hips in excruciatingly slow movements into her. Although he made sure she enjoyed this as much as he did, he still wanted to avenge himself for the torture she had put him through earlier. He would not move faster nor deeper when she begged him to. When one of her hands sneaked between them to reach her clit, he boldly grabbed it and pinned it above her head. When she lifted her head to seek out his mouth, he would hover agonizingly close over her lips, never allowing for her tongue to touch him. Frustrated and unbearably aroused, Rakkaani used her free hand to hold on to one of the protruding thorns on his back near his hips. She tried to pull him in deeper, to change his rhythm, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Impatience is not a virtue, you know,” he teased her in his low devilish voice, slowly kissing her neck.

“Since when are demons virtuous?” she growled. Rakkaani had become such a sensitive bundle of lust, she couldn’t take it anymore. Knowing Lucifer’s weak spots, she sighed: “To be honest, I thought there was so much more to being fucked by the Devil. But, if this is all you can do, it’s alright, darling.” She shot him an innocent look and patted him friendly on the back, like saying _I know you meant well_.

Spot on, Lucifer could not endure the slightest dent in his reputation, especially not when it came to carnal satisfaction. Spurred on by her outrageous comment, he drilled the pikes of his enormous red wings into the wall at the bed’s head, kissed her madly, and began thrusting faster, harder and deeper with each time. Her cheekiness drove him wild and he forgot all about his torturous plans. Panting, moaning and cursing filled the room, as they both fought to find release. He needed her to go first, otherwise he could not guarantee he’d have the strength to make her follow him. In a desperate attempt to last just a little longer, he tried to occupy his mind by thinking about the murder investigation. About how odd it had been that of all bodies, Rakkaani would have chosen this body, the _amazing_ body he was currently… Futile! All he could think about was this mesmerizing woman beneath him and the divine union they had formed. Eventually, she started clenching around him, calling _Lu! Lu!_ , sending his brain into overdrive. He gave it all he could and when she finally shattered, she pulled him over the edge as well. His orgasm surged through him with an unearthly force. His hips bucked helplessly against hers, as he came, and came, and came.

They spent long moments heaving, groaning and trembling in each other’s arms. When the bliss had subsided, Lucifer thought it a blessing to have had sex in Devil shape with someone who really appreciated it.

No celestial blessing, mind you.


	9. Chapter 8

“Ella, what do you know about exorcism?”

The question took the forensic scientist by surprise and she looked worriedly at her friend Chloe, who seemed to have forgone sleep entirely and had had three mugs of coffee already since she’d arrived at the station that morning.

“Other than it didn’t work on Uncle Benito’s super-loco, possessed ex-wife and the movie – nothing? Why?”

“Uhmm, when you say _possessed_ , what exactly-“ Chloe was cut off by Arnold Miles of the tech department.

“Excuse me, Detective Decker? We cracked the phone you brought us. I think you should see this.”

Chloe winked at Ella, willing her to forget their previous conversation. The two women followed Miles to his desk, where he turned the screen so that they could see it. It showed a couple of explicit threat messages, which were addressed to Dexter Harrelson, the victim. Panic crept up in Chloe, who could only think about being the one to have released Amanda Maynard from custody. Luckily, she had brought Ella, who a) had had a lot more sleep than her and who b) had not spent the entire night fighting off mental images of Lucifer boning a demon and just found out that she delivered a murderer to his penthouse. Not that he couldn’t deal with it. But when it came to women…

“Hang on!” Ella interrupted Chloe’s panic attack. “This threat message here, it is signed by ‘J’. Not ‘A’ as in Amanda.”

Sergeant Miles said: “Yes, that’s what I’ve been meaning to tell you. I don’t think this is Amanda Maynard’s phone, I think it is Harrelson’s phone. Look at the other messages, they’re addressed to ‘Dex’.”

“Oh.” Well that was interesting. In her head, Chloe tried to quickly rearrange the bits and pieces she’d found of this puzzle so far. Even the less earthly ones. “Wow. So, if this is not Maynard’s phone and it is indeed Harrelson’s phone… Who is ‘J’? Can you track the number?”

“Yes, but that’s a dead end. It is a pay phone and it seems to be switched off.”

“Damn. We need to find out who sent him that message. I’ll go through his list of colleagues and employees, but it feels like we’re looking for the needle in the haystack. I mean, ‘J’ could be anybody.” Chloe folded her arms and chewed her lip.

Ella agreed: “Literally anybody. Like the guy he bought his newspaper from. Or his hairdresser’s sister. Or…”

“Ella. Not helpful.”

Chloe thanked Sergeant Miles and asked him to transfer the data to the electronical file they were keeping on the case. Back at her desk, she started reading through all the messages she could find. There were only few messages from ‘J’, all of them just a couple of weeks old and the freshest from less than 32 hours ago. It read: “That’s it, you’ve gone too far, bastard! You’re a dead man!”

Maybe, ‘J’ was the one who killed Harrelson or who made someone do it? Chloe also found messages from Harrelson to Amanda Maynard. They were short, cryptic, all about dates and places. Just like short instructions one would send to a secret lover. An affair, which perhaps lead to ‘J’ killing them both? Perhaps, ‘J’ was Maynard’s jealous boyfriend?

Why had Maynard taken Harrelson’s phone? How the _hell_ – Chloe suppressed a manic half frown half smile – should she explain that Maynard had been shot at the crime scene, too, but had magically survived, sort of, and then disappeared?! Chloe really grew weary of the unnerving ways the supernatural tended to dominate her cases, lately.

“Found anything yet?” While Chloe had been lost in thought, Dan had entered the station and had been updated by Ella. The two of them stood behind Chloe’s chair now, reading Harrelson’s messages on her screen.

“Well, whoever ‘J’ is, they certainly seem to have a motive for murder,” Chloe sighed.

“What about pictures, videos, social media?” Dan asked.

“Haven’t gotten to that part yet.” Chloe opened the picture file and sighed again when thousands of photos started loading.

“Alright, let’s split. Ella, you take the first two thousand-“

Dan interrupted Chloe: “Wait a minute. Look here.” He pointed to a picture which had already been loaded onto the screen. It showed Harrelson and a young blond woman. Apparently, the woman took a selfie of herself and the tv-show producer/murder victim. They were smiling and seemed close.

“I know her.” Dan shook his pointing finger at the image and seemed to rummage through his mind to find the answer.

“Oh my Gonzo! I know her, too!” Ella’s eyes nearly fell out of their holes.

Dan interrupted her. “This is Officer Farren, from the crime scene. She’d said it was her first case and looked shocked when she saw the vic.”

Ella rolled her eyes and loudly smacked her forehead with her palm. “Damn it. This _is_ Officer Morgan Farren in _You’re under arrest_ , a will-they-won’t-they-tv crime show I totally haven’t watched more than once… one… totally not more than four seasons. Ehem.”

Dan and Chloe stared speechlessly at their blushing forensic scientist.

“I mean, her real name is Julianne Dooley. She works for _Real Entertainment_ , Harrelson’s studio.” Ella added helpfully.

Dan sighed. “That would explain why she hasn’t reported back like I asked her to.”

“And, and that would explain how she knew Amanda Maynard. She worked for Harrelson, too.” Having overcome her awkward moment, Ella beamed with joy at having made that connection.

“So, she is ‘J’. Ella, you’re a genius. And a geek. Same coin, I suppose.” Chloe smiled lovingly at her friend. She entered the name Julianne Dooley into the database, but found no matches.

“What was she doing at the crime scene?” Dan still seemed confused.

“Apparently looking for this,” Chloe said, holding up Harrelson’s phone. “The one incriminating piece of evidence she had to get rid of after shooting Harrelson and Am… and _ehm_ so on.” Getting up from her desk, Chloe directed the next steps of the investigation. Dan was to send out an APB, Ella tried to find Dooley’s address, while Chloe officially tried to work out how Amanda Maynard fit into all this.

Inofficially, she was worried sick about what Lucifer and the possessed deceased were getting up to. She missed him. And she was still more than mad at him. He’d really let her down during this entire investigation and it reminded her of a time before he had vowed absolute commitment whenever he would be on the job. She feared, they’d gone back to pre-Eve times, when all that was of interest to him were his own personal issues. Not their partnership and certainly not their friendship or whatever it was they shared. After all they had been through now, and with everything she knew about him, she’d finally thought they were building something honest and _real_ , for the first time. Should she inform him about the new lead? Would he actually show up this time?

Running from her lab to Chloe’s desk, Ella came holding a piece of paper. “Got it! This is Julianne Dooley’s current address, according to the registration office.”

“Great, thanks Ella! Dan, let’s go!” Chloe grabbed her keys and together they left the station.

They took Chloe’s car, Dan assisted with the directions the satnav gave them. Since Chloe was driving, she chose not to inform Lucifer and she trusted Dan would be happier for not having his frenemy involved, too. He did however touch on the subject of Amanda Maynard, unfortunately.

“This is a strange case. I still don’t understand what she had to do with all of this. I mean, she _was_ at the crime scene, she even _bled_ at the crime scene, but then she disappeared and lost her memory or what? And why did Lucifer bail her out? Turn right there.” He pointed to the street Chloe should steer the car towards and looked at her expectantly.

“I know, it’s a mystery to me, too. What happened with you when you saw her yesterday in the cell? You acted very strangely,” Chloe answered, carefully navigating the conversation away from supernatural suspects and consultants. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed how Dan’s face took on a slight pink hue.

“Uhm, I, I don’t know, really. It felt like, like she could see right through me, but I couldn’t look away because she was so…”

“… beautiful?”

“Nonono, no, no. I mean, yeah, sure, she _is_ pretty, but there was something else. I really can’t explain. Erm, turn left on the next corner.”

In mutual understanding, they just dropped the topic and kept driving to Julianne Dooley’s residence in silence.

The address turned out to be an apartment building and Dooley’s apartment was on the third floor. Dan and Chloe rang the bell and banged on the door, but received no answer. The investigation’s circumstances allowed them to break into the apartment. A swift search of the place showed that Dooley was indeed not at home. Furthermore, they did not find anything, which could have been helpful for the case.

They decided to split up. Chloe went to interview neighbours and Dan kept looking for clues, pieces of evidence, anything in her apartment that could shed any light on the whereabouts of their suspect. Ever the thorough detective, Dan turned every pillow, looked under the carpet, in the freezer, inside every closet, shoebox, thumbed through books, and even emptied the bin onto the floor to look through Dooley’s trash. Sitting on his knees and putting on gloves, he grimly thought about how Chloe’s _consultant_ never got down to the dirty work. He’d always dismiss the real detective work as way below him, therefore degrading Dan’s honest and hard efforts by miles. _The lazy nightclub owner wouldn’t know a clue if it hit him in the face_ , Dan snorted to himself. A satisfied smile tugged at his lips, as he found torn shreds of a document, which carried a distinctive logo: _Real Entertainment_.

In that moment, Chloe returned and reported that one rather nosey neighbour had noticed that Julianne Dooley had not been home that night. The two detectives studied the shreds that Dan had found in the trash. The paper looked crumbled, like it had been torn apart in a rage, rather than in an orderly fashion or cut by scissors. When they had set the pieces together, the document turned out to be a contract for a movie production, owned by Real Entertainment.

“Here is Dooley’s signature,” Chloe’s finger rested on the bottom of the page. “But Dexter Harrelson did not sign,” she pointed to the empty space above Harrelson’s typed name. “There we have our motive. She was denied the lead role in a movie. Probably he offered it to Maynard instead.”

“Hardly a reason to kill someone! To sulk, yes, to be angry, yes, but murder?” Dan looked at her incredulously.

“Oh, actors can be quite emotional narcissists, believe me.” Chloe shook her head, memories of her days in the film industry filling her mind. “And remember the pictures we found on Harrelson’s phone. They have been close, at some point. But this suggests that they’ve had a major fallout. And besides, her turning up at the crime scene and not freaking out erases all doubt that she did it.”

“You’re right. But where is she? When I went through her stuff, I had the impression she packed a small bag to be gone for a while. No toothbrush or toiletries, some clothes were strewn on the bed. If she’s left LA, she could be anywhere now.”

“I’ll have the station check the airports, train and bus stations for any bookings in her name. Or her character’s name. Meanwhile, we should try Real Entertainment studios. If she feels safe enough to actually show up at the crime scene, perhaps she’s already back to work.”

Chloe’s phone rang. Lucifer called. Speaking with him was the last thing she wanted, so she rejected the call.

Shortly afterwards, her phone beeped. A message. From Lucifer.

10:23 a.m. _Detective! Came to find you at the station. Miss Lopez says you are after the killer now. Why didn’t you call me?_

Beep.

10:25 a.m. _Detective?_

Beep.

10:30 a.m. _Please, where are you? Stop giving me the silent treatment. You might be in danger._

Beep.

10:33 a.m. _I could never forgive myself if something happened to you._

Chloe turned off the sound of her phone, because she and Dan were already back in the car and speeding through LA towards Real Entertainment studios in Hollywood. Almost one hour later, they finally arrived at Julianne Dooley’s current workplace. It had taken an enormous amount of law reciting, persuasion and filling out forms before Dan and Chloe had been allowed to enter the studios. “Do they really think we’d take advantage of our badges just to get a glimpse at a film set?”

“You’d be surprised what lengths fans are prepared to go to just to get closer to their stars,” Chloe recalled her experiences. “Anyway, we’re looking for studio 3. Ah, there it is.”

They walked over to the stage door and were met by another security officer. The security woman looked at them critically, as if she tried to figure out whether the detectives were already in costumes or simply intruders. Chloe showed her badge.

“Detective Chloe Decker, LAPD, this is Detective Espinoza. We are looking for an actress, Julianne Dooley. The gate told us to come here.”

The security officer talked into her radiophone to confirm with the security personnel at the gate. Then, she stood aside and, without saying another word, let the detectives enter studio 3.

Surprised by the size of the filmsets inside the large hall, Dan and Chloe wandered around slowly, looking for someone who could be in charge. Within two minutes, they walked through a living room, a bar and even a remarkably accurate police station, as if spatial dimensions where just part of a large jigsaw puzzle.

A young hasty man wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard scurried up to them and addressed Chloe in the typical busy-and-annoyed-LA-tv-production-manner: “Ehm, excuse me. Are you Julianne’s stand-in? You’re extremely late!”

“You mean Julianne Dooley?” Chloe asked.

“Yes, of course! Now go get changed and hurry over to the bedroom set. Just follow the signs. Chop chop!”

“I’m sorry, there must be a misunderstanding.” Chloe showed the unsuspecting man her badge. “LAPD, I’m Detective Decker, this is Detective Espinoza. We are looking for Ms. Dooley. Is she here?”

“I, I, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know…” The show assistant looked shocked. “The blond hair, I, I assumed…”

“No worries. So, Ms. Dooley, is she here?”

“Ah, no, no she isn’t. That’s why we needed the stand-in, so we wouldn’t fall behind schedule.” The man noticed Chloe’s and Dan’s questioning looks and continued. “Because Julianne was sent home. She didn’t feel well. She was supposed to shoot the much anticipated Farren-Stiller love scene today, but she kept messing up, so the boss sent her home.”

“So she _was_ here? When was that?”

“Uhm, about two hours ago?”

“You said the boss sent her home. Who is the boss? Given that Dexter Harrelson is not… _here_.” Dan asked, he didn’t know if the studio had been informed of Harrelson’s death yet. He figured they didn’t know yet, given that 1) the murder had only been committed the night before and 2) the studio had kept up business as usual. But then again, there is no business like show business and the show must go on…

“Jocelyn Jones, the director. I’m her assistant, Marco Saluggi.”

“Where can we find Ms. Jones?”

Marco Saluggi asked the detectives to follow him. He hurried them through a couple of sets and corridors and eventually pointed out a short, sturdy woman to them, who stood inside a small bedroom set, beside a tall, handsome actor, who was impressively accurately dressed like an LAPD police officer. Apparently Mr. Stiller from the Farren-Stiller love scene. Half a dozen cameras turned entering the set almost into a Takeshi’s castle challenge. Dan nearly fell over, as his foot got caught in a heap of cables and wires.

“Ms. Jones? LAPD, Detective Decker. I need to ask you a few questions regarding Julianne Dooley,” said Chloe, who had been the first to navigate herself successfully through the voyeuristic barrier.

The director detached herself from ‘Mr. Stiller’ and met Chloe halfway. “What is this about?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t give you any detailed information. Ms. Dooley is currently part of an ongoing investigation and we need to speak with her. Urgently.”

“Well, I sent her home, that ungrateful missy.”

“Why?”

“She wasn’t herself today. She kept forgetting lines, directions. How to act.” Waving at the set, Ms. Jones added: “She was supposed to shoot an important love scene today and the only expression she managed to show on her face was horror, god damnit!”

Chloe tried not to think about what Lucifer would have replied to Ms. Jones’ insinuations.

“Well, love scenes can be terrifying,” she said instead, looking at the wall of cameras around them. “Had Julianne been acting… I mean behaving strangely also before today?” Chloe asked.

“That girl has always been strange, if you ask me. Too full of herself, too insistent and righteous. I certainly wouldn’t have cast her in Farren’s role!”

“No? Who gave her that role?”

“Dex Harrelson, our producer. He always wants to have a say when it comes to casting.”

“Hm. Ms. Dooley was not at home when we checked earlier. Could she have gone somewhere else?”

Ms. Jones shrugged. “I don’t know. Her brother lives in Rosemead, perhaps she went there?”

“Her brother? Do you know his name? Address?” Dan had already flicked his notepad open.

“Do I look like the registration office?” Ms. Jones snapped.

The show runner cleared his throat: “Uhmhm, his name is Joe, I think. She mentioned him a couple of times. Uhm, I could show you Julianne’s, I mean Ms. Dooley’s wardrobe, uhm, if you’d like?” Marco Saluggi added, apparently proud of himself for being of help in an _actual_ LAPD investigation, though he couldn’t know what it was the detectives were _actually_ investigating.

Chloe looked at Dan: “You search her wardrobe. I don’t want to lose time – I will track down Dooley’s brother. And, I think you should give the team the news.” Turning to Ms. Jones and her assistant, she said: “Alright, thank you. You both have been very helpful.” Chloe offered them her card. ”Should you think of something else which might help us find Ms. Dooley, or should you see her, please do let us know immediately.”

Before they split up, Dan stopped Chloe for a brief moment: “That name, Joe Dooley, rings a bell. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this. If you find Joe, please don’t meet him alone. Call for back up. Or – can’t believe I’m saying this – ask Lucifer to do his fucking job.”


	10. Chapter 9

“Ahaa! Yup. Hang on!”

Lucifer watched impatiently how Ella Lopez typed a name into the database, phone wedged between her shoulder and ear, tongue sticking out between her teeth. Since he had arrived at the station, and had not found Chloe there, the selfish behaviour he had shown the day before kept letting him feel the bitter taste of self-disappointment. All he had wanted, really, was for things to go back the way they were before Eve happened, maybe even before Cain happened. Yes, he did want Chloe to accept him with all his faces and sides, but what he wanted even more was for her to be happy. Preferably with him by her side. But he had to admit to himself that he’d really let her down this time. (Fucking a demon/former murder suspect certainly didn’t help matters, so he decided to not boast about this carnal adventure, for once.)

Expectantly, he looked at the forensic scientist, whose eyes grew wide with excitement – a tell-tale sign that she had found a clue.

“Chloe, we don’t need the registration office. Joe Dooley is the proud owner of a heavy file in our database! He has been arrested multiple times for the illegal possession and trading of guns, drugs, cars, just to name a few. I’d bet my original Spock-ear collection that he gave Julianne the weapon, with which she shot Harrelson!”

Ella listened to what Chloe told her on the other end. Lucifer strained his ears but couldn’t hear a word.

“Aha. Aha. That’s what I thought. Totes! Waaaait. Morrison Road 237, Rosemead. What about Dan? Oh, I see.” Looking at Lucifer: “Aha. Yes, he’s here.”

Lucifer got up from his seat and extended his hand to receive Ella’s phone.

“Ok, be careful. Bye.” Ella ended the call and looked pitifully at Lucifer.

“Why did you hang up? I needed to speak with her!” he complained.

“I’m sorry buddy, she said you could come and meet her at Joe Dooley’s address, if you were interested in solving the case. Her words! Not mine!”

“If I’m…” A flustered Lucifer stepped out of the way of Ella’s looming hug and tugged at his perfectly cut blue silk suit. “So, Joe Dooley, is he our suspect now?”

“No, but he’s Julianne Dooley’s brother and probably involved in the crime somehow. He’s dealt with drugs and weapons most of his life.”

“This reminds me. I found the missing bullet!” From his breast pocket, Lucifer retrieved the bullet which he had extracted from Amanda Maynard’s body the night before.

“Wait! You went back to the crime scene?”

“No! Ra- I mean, Ms. Maynard had it.” Lucifer smiled and unwrapped the bullet from his handkerchief on his flat palm, from where Ella carefully picked it up with tweezers.

“What exactly does that mean, _she had it_?!”

“Well, if you didn’t notice the enormous blood stain on her dress then I’m beginning to lose my confidence in your detecting skills, Ms. Lopez.”

Ella studied the bullet under the light and the microscope. “It’s the same type that killed Harrelson. The autopsy confirmed that he was killed by two bullets, 9 mm. This one matches the other two. But I don’t understand. If Julianne Dooley fired bullets at both Dex _and_ Amanda, who miraculously survived the shooting, why can’t Amanda confirm this?”

Lucifer put on his innocent face: “PTSD? Shell shock?”

“Where is Ms. Maynard, anyway? Weren’t you supposed to watch her?”

“At the penthouse, had to recover from our intensive… talking. She’s really had to take in a lot...”

Ella did not want to believe a word Lucifer said yet knew he didn’t lie. So, she handed him a note with Joe Dooley’s address. “Better get back to her then.”

\----------

Lucifer did not waste time and speeded back to the penthouse to pick up his exhausted demon. In the car, he informed her of the new pieces of information on the case and explained the urgency to reach the address Ella had given him.

“We need to get there before Chloe does. She has a tendency of manoeuvring herself into situations, which I can’t help her out of without risking my own head.”

“Because you’re vulnerable around her.” Rakkaani reasoned.

“Yes.” Lucifer replied, obviously unhappy about that fact.

“Perhaps I should stay on Earth, too, and help Maze to protect you,” Lucifer’s demon thought out loud.

“Your loyalty honours you, darling, but that won’t be necessary.”

“What could ever go wrong with two demons at your side? We’d make an invincible threesome.”

“Don’t give me ideas,” Lucifer grinned. “Maze can do those amazing things with her tongue while I’m behind… Ah, let’s not forget we have a case to solve and a body to return.“ The Devil wrapped his fingers tightly around the steering wheel and forced his brain to focus on the road.

“What do you mean? I can’t keep it?”

“You know I can’t let you stay, Ra. As much as it pains me.”

Rakkaani stayed silent for a while, before she said: “Because of her?”

“Who?”

“Chloe.”

“Don’t be daft. You know the rules, Maze is the exception, even though she badly wants to return to Hell.”

“Can’t I take her place then?”

“And who will help those damned love imbeciles to torture themselves? Besides, demons always find Earth dull after some time. Do you have any idea how many hours of therapy it took for Maze and I to even begin to understand the bloody stupid ways in which Father made these humans behave? Ah, Morrison Road, here we are.”

Lucifer spotted Chloe’s car in the distance and slowly approached Morrison Road 237, which turned out the be a shady, old, flat bungalow. Chloe stood outside the Dooleys’ front lawn and was talking on the phone.

“You stay in the car,” he said to Rakkaani, got out of the car and walked over to his partner.

\----------

“Thanks, Dan.” Chloe put her phone in her pocket and lowered her sunglasses to first look at Lucifer’s passenger, then glare at Lucifer himself.

“You think bringing the victim to confront the prime suspect is a good idea?!”

“What’s the danger? Technically, she is already dead.” Shaking her head, Chloe pushed the sunglasses back up and turned to walk towards the house. She really was too tired to deal with his Luciferness now.

Lucifer quickly caught up with her: “Look, Detective, I know…”

Chloe held up her hand to stop him from saying another word. She took a deep breath.

“Dan has found Julianne Dooley’s costume, the police uniform she wore when we met her at the crime scene. He’ll have it checked for gun residue, but he is certain he can smell it on her sleeve. Her boss said she might be staying at her brother’s house, that’s why we’re here. I’m not sure that your presence is helpful, given that Joe Dooley seems to be fond of weapons. I want… No, I _expect_ you to follow the rules to the letter! If someone is home, _I_ will talk to them. If you so much as blink without my consent, remember that I will hurt you.”

He understood that she was angry, and under pressure, he really did. All he wanted to know was: “Why?”

“Because I can.”

\----------

Chloe knocked on Joe Dooley’s door. Mentally, she prepared herself for the two least favourable prospects of either not finding Julianne there or having to deal with her presumably unpleasant brother Joe. To her surprise, the door was quickly opened by Julianne Dooley herself. Her long, blond hair was tied back, she wore a tight, white t-shirt and blue shorts. Her face seemed open and friendly, as she looked at the two detectives.

Chloe remembered her pale face, when she had showed up at the crime scene and wondered, how long Dooley would keep up the façade.

“Ms. Julianne Dooley?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Detective Chloe Decker, as you might recall, and this is my... this is Mr. Morningstar.”

“What can I do for you, detectives?” Julianne asked in a kind yet serious manner.

“May we come inside?”

“Uhm, why, what’s wrong?” Innocence written all over her face, Julianne looked from Chloe to Lucifer and back.

“We have some questions regarding the murder of Dexter Harrelson.”

“What? Dex? Murdered?!” Julianne shrieked, her lower lip trembled, and her brows were knitted together in confusion. Chloe wondered when the waterworks would begin.

“Yes, you saw him, when you visited the crime scene, remember? Please, can we go inside?”

“I… I… I did not visit any crime scene! What are you talking about?”

“Unless you have a twin sister, we already met you yesterday at Dexter Harrelson’s house, about an hour after he had been murdered, dressed as a police officer. You already know that he is dead, why the charade?”

Julianne Dooley cast a quick look inside the house and decided to step outside rather than letting the police in. She closed the front door and leaned with her back against it, holding her face with one hand while sobbing slightly.

“I’m so sorry, Detective, I… I’m devastated to hear that Dex is dead. I can’t explain why you think you’ve met me at his… his murder scene.” She sniffed and swallowed.

“You wore your costume, Ms. Dooley, the outfit your Officer Morgan Farren character wears, to blend in with the crowd. My colleague found it at the studio and will have it checked for gun residue. If you claim you have not been at the crime scene, can you please establish where you were yesterday evening between 6 and 7 pm?”

Sniffing and shrugging, Julianne replied: “I was here, with my brother. He can confirm that, but he’s not in right now. I would never hurt Dex! I loved him! Even though he was my boss.”

“Your co-workers stated that you were unable to work today, why was that?”

“I had a migraine, I couldn’t concentrate on the job, that’s why I came here, to rest.” Julianne attempted a smile, but neither Chloe nor Lucifer were fooled by it.

“Ms. Dooley, despite your denial, we have every reason to believe that you shot and killed Dexter Harrelson yesterday evening shortly before 7 pm. I hereby arrest you for his murder.” Chloe pulled the handcuffs from her belt.

A hysterical laugh erupted from Julianne Dooley’s twitching mouth. “That’s insane! I did not shoot anyone! I don’t even own a gun. Why would I kill Dex?”

Chloe shot Lucifer a look, willing him to work his mojo on her.

Happy to finally be able to assist, he took a step towards Julianne and pierced her eyes with his devilish stare.

“Tell me, Ms. Dooley, what is it that you…”

Suddenly, Julianne’s gaze dropped away from his eyes and fixed on something behind him, which made him stop his inquisition. He noticed all colour drain from her face. Lucifer didn’t need to turn around to know what had spooked her.

“YOU?!?” Julianne’s eyes were blown wide with both horror and panic. She left the doorframe and pushed past Lucifer to walk towards Rakkaani, who had left the car and walked up to the house, while Chloe and Lucifer had been talking to their suspect.

Now, Rakkaani stood very still. She ignored Lucifer’s scolding look and watched the suspect storming towards her.

“How is that possible, Amanda?” Julianne’s voice had lost all innocence and sweetness.

Chloe thought it might not have been such a bad idea after all, to confront Ms. Dooley with her victim. “You mean because Ms. Maynard shouldn’t be alive?”

Forgetting all about her previous statements, Julianne hissed: “I shot you! You, you were dead! All the blood, I was certain that you were…”

“Ms. Dooley, why did you shoot Ms. Maynard? And Mr. Harrelson?” Chloe asked. When Julianne didn’t answer, she said: “Judging by the content of your text messages to Mr. Harrelson, you probably got jealous of your colleague and went to confront the two of them with a gun. You shot them and left, but returned to the crime scene, cleverly disguised as policewoman, to look for Harrelson’s phone and therefore the one piece of evidence against you we could find. At the house, you saw that Maynard’s body was missing. You had to fear that Maynard was alive after all. That’s why you broke into Maynard’s apartment to either shoot her again or to find the missing phone. Am I right so far?”

Lucifer felt like he had missed the entire investigation and had nothing to offer to bring this case to a successful conclusion. All he could do was to let his stare wander from Chloe, whose brilliant mind did not require his help at all, to Rakkaani, who still had not moved, to Julianne, who was shaking with rage and fear.

The latter only winced instead of answering Chloe’s question, so Chloe went on: “But what exactly were you jealous of? Did Harrelson offer the lead role in his new movie to Ms. Maynard, instead of you? Is that it?”

“No. She loved him.” Rakkaani stated quietly, looking right through Julianne and taking a step towards her, which prompted the murderess to draw a small gun from the back of her pants and point it sharply at Rakkaani’s head.

“And you tried to steal him from me, you freakin’ bitch!!” Julianne screamed, releasing the safety lock on her gun.

Chloe had pulled her gun as well.

“I will never understand how you humans can kill the ones you love,” Lucifer’s demon looked calmly at Julianne. “Not only will it haunt you for the rest of your life, but it will torture you forever in the afterlife.”

“Don’t gimme that bullshit! Dex was mine and you knew it! You only used him!” Waving her gun, Julianne took another step towards Rakkaani. Lucifer could see her finger closing around the trigger.

Chloe aimed at Julianne’s leg and shouted: “Julianne, drop the gun!”

Julianne flinched. Her gun swayed.

\----------

If there was one thing, that Lucifer had learned about humans, then it was that one could trust them to be unpredictable. Anticipating the worst way Julianne could react to Chloe’s instruction, he hurled himself at the detective and threw her to the ground, just as two gunshots tore through the air behind him. He braced himself for the explosion of pain in his back, while trying to make sure that Chloe had remained unharmed. To his tremendous relief, she seemed fine, surprised and startled, but fine. Oddly enough, he did not even feel the pain of the bullets he had caught for her. At least he’d die in her arms, he thought.

It took another split-second for him to register something else. A warm weight on top of him.

Time stopped.

Not because Amenadiel had appeared.

An ice-cold sense of horror shot through Lucifer’s veins.

Slowly, he pushed himself off of Chloe’s body and turned around, to find Rakkaani sliding off his back. Two bullets had pierced her spine.

He caught her before she hit the ground, her head rested in the crook of his arm, the rest of her body a supine heap of limbs.

He vaguely heard Rakkaani breathe a few words, then, her head dropped away, and her body collapsed. Her spirit had died.

Frozen to the spot, Lucifer stared at the corpse in his arms.

A chasm opened, deep inside of him, and it pulled him down into an infinite blackness. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think.

He did not register Chloe getting up and overwhelming Julianne after all. He did not notice her forcing Julianne to the ground and handcuffing her. He did not hear the police arriving and taking Julianne away. He was neither aware of the ambulance’s arrival nor of the paramedics talking to him.

Unfathomably forceful pain roared in his chest and clenched at his heart. He wanted to breathe but his lungs refused to unfold. Every cell of his body ached. His brain was empty and filled with red fog at the same time. He was unable to grasp what had happened.

Only when the paramedics forced Lucifer to release the body in his arms, did he notice that he was sobbing. Through tears in his eyes he watched Rakkaani’s body being lifted onto a stretcher, covered by a white sheet and pushed into the ambulance.

His hands and sleeves were covered in her blood. Images of their most memorable moments in Hell flashed before his eyes. Closely followed by hot streams of feelings, he had had the night before, when they had … merged their energies. The intensity of the sensation of his loss broke him.

A sudden, warm softness wrapped itself around him, and he realized that Chloe was hugging him to her chest while he was still sitting on his knees on the front lawn of the Dooleys’ house.

“You’ve kept your word. You’ve proven Amanda’s innocence.” Chloe whispered.

He couldn’t speak and fought to regain control but gave up resistance when he noticed that she was crying, too. Making choked sounds with a contorted face, the Devil wept uninhibitedly as he fell apart in his partner’s arms.


	11. Chapter 10

The bright Californian sun shining on everyone’s faces seemed so misplaced, as Amanda Maynard’s coffin was being lowered into the grave. Quite a significant crowd had gathered at her funeral. Lucifer could make out her family, close friends and colleagues, all dressed in black and beyond consolation.

He pulled a black handkerchief from his black suit pocket and handed it to Maze, who was standing next to him, at a respectful distance from the grieving crowd. She sniffed loudly, single tears crossed her cheeks from time to time.

Shaking her head, Maze cried: “I still don’t understand, why she did it.”

Lucifer had been very silent and absorbed in thought. He hadn’t said anything since Chloe had taken him home that day, that dreadful day. It was Chloe who had informed Maze of the shooting and its tragic outcome. The detective had made sure that Lucifer was well looked after in his catatonic state of mourning and disbelief. It was her who had informed him of the funeral a few days later, which despite all the pain and the fact that Rakkaani had inhibited that body for less than 24 hours Lucifer simply had to attend. Maze had insisted on joining him and here they were, a heartbroken devil and a sobbing demon.

For the first time in days, Lucifer actually said, or rather _whispered_ something: “Who? Why who did what?”

“Ra! Why the hell did she catch those bullets for you?!” Maze wailed.

“You’ve caught the occasional dagger or fist for me. Why did you do it?” Lucifer asked his guardian demon.

It didn’t take Maze long to answer: “You’re the boss. And… my friend… sort of. There was a time when I’d have given my life to safe yours. But now I’ve come to treasure this existence topside. I don’t have a soul to waste. Neither did she.”

Lucifer nodded slowly and watched the funeral party, as it slowly dissolved, and people began walking back to their minuscule mortal lives on this sunny Saturday afternoon.

Images of Rakkaani’s dying body flashed before his eyes and he swallowed hard to fight the painful lump that had immediately started to block his throat. The reality of the pain he had been suffering from ever since Rakkaani had died had changed something so significant in him, that it felt difficult to remember how things had felt before. He almost could not remember how he had snorted at Dex Harrelson’s weeping wife. How he found it ridiculous that some survivors grief for so long, they turn their remaining time among the living into their personal hell on earth. Yes, losing friends and colleagues had not left him unaffected, but still he had not had the slightest idea of what mourning humans were going through – until Rakkaani had breathed her final breath.

Thinking of it, he suddenly remembered the words she had whispered just before all life had left her.

“She said something, before she died,” he murmured.

“What? What did she say?” Maze’s eyes grew wide. She desperately needed to understand why her beloved demon friend was taken from her, forever.

“She said: It’s strange what desire will make foolish people do.”

“Hm… I know those words from somewhere.” Maze bit her lip.

“Whatever could she have meant by it?” Still too caught up in his own misery, all meaning and grasp escaped Lucifer.

“Isn’t it obvious? Her desire to protect you made her waste her one chance at life. For you.”

Lucifer sighed. “Hhh, she did mention she wanted to stay on Earth and protect me. Eons and eons that we spent in Hell together, and nothing happened. Then she visits Los Angeles for one bloody day and gets killed within 24 hours…”

The sadness in Maze’s eyes grew. “Her words could also have meant you. Risking _your_ life for Chloe. She must have seen what Chloe means to you. She is… was the demon of love, after all. You would be dead now, had she not intercepted the bullets.”

Slowly processing Mazikeen’s words, Lucifer closed his eyes and wished he could turn back time. If Maze was right, and Rakkaani had seen real, true love between him and Chloe, however unlikely that may have been given their clumsy behaviour of late, then God might have failed in his plans after all.

“Maze, I need to go. I have to see Chloe.” Lucifer turned with a sudden urge to leave. He had to make things right. What a fool he had been. How could his carnal desire have overwritten everything he felt for Chloe and had been working for? It had taken him such a long time to gain her trust and just when he finally had it, he ripped it apart with the first attractive demon to cross his path (yes, to him she had been more than that, but still…). And what did the detective do? She comforted him! The detective, of all people, had all right to dismiss him from her life, forever. But she didn’t. She cared for him, at his lowest point. Which once more showed that he was not worthy of this generous, gentle, kind and clever woman. But he had to try…

“Sure.” Maze wanted to scream, to curse and to hurt him, badly. But she just nodded and watched him go.

Lucifer turned back once more, a sad smile on his lips: “You know, with Ra being gone, I wonder who will torture Julianne in Hell, when her time comes.”

 _When her time comes…_ , Maze thought to herself.

\--------

In the Correctional Center near City West, Officer James Sanchez stood guard in cell block B, where female criminal offenders with heavy cases were currently having dinner. He overlooked the twenty-something women chewing listlessly, some chatting, others moping, most of them eating silently. Most sat alone, the tables only had two opposite seats each to prevent gang building during mealtimes.

Absentmindedly, he scratched his ear, because the air next to his ear had briefly felt hot and fast and a faint metallic sound had passed his auditive sense. However, Officer Sanchez didn’t pay any attention to this at all. Strange things happened in prison all the time, distraction could cost your life, especially in this ward.

The next thing he noticed was a woman slowly rising from her seat, carefully lifting her hands and mumbling: “It wasn’t me. Wasn’t me.” He turned to see what she was staring at and referring to. The woman opposite her had slumped face forward onto the table. A dark, strangely shaped, medium sized blade protruded from her carotid, blood was spilling in large amounts onto the table.

“What the hell…?” Within seconds he stood beside the knifed blonde and checked her pulse. There was none. Another warden quickly approached the table and made sure all prisoners stayed where they were.

Officer Sanchez pulled out his radio set: “John, you’d better come down, we have a 10-31 C. Inmate Dooley.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it, the end. I hope you liked it despite the pain I caused for Chloe's character.  
> Thank you all so much for reading and special thanks to my lovely commentators! <3  
> Merry Christmas and a healthy New Year!


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